Taken Away
by HandswithRoses
Summary: What will happen to Aria and Ezra's son?
1. Chapter 1

**Taken away**

**Chapter 1**

Ezra's POV:

Fridays were my favorite days of the week. I just had classes in the morning and so did Aria. She taught at Rosewood Day now and I was still teaching at Hollis. My car was in the Rosewood Day parking lot every Friday at exactly the same time, 12:05 PM, just like it was right now. I got out of my car and went inside. Aria had the habit of talking for a little bit with her colleagues after her classes and I liked to join them sometime. They were still my former co-workers after all. I went straight to her office, but not much to my surprise, she wasn't there anymore. Just as I closed the door, I heard a familiar giggle. Aria just entered the hallway with Mrs. Welsh. She was obviously deeply caught in their conversation, because she didn't see me. They passed me and I decided to surprise her. Silently, I walked behind her and I wrapped my arms around her.

"I know that scent!" She giggled as she turned around. She put my face in both of her tiny hands and she kissed me lovingly. I could feel her smile against my lips and I let my hands roam over her back. There was someone on my left opening their locker, giggling uncontrollably. I pulled away from Aria to see who it was and I felt Aria do the exact same thing. It was just a student finding it weird to see her teacher making out in the school hallways.

"She's in my class" Aria whispered in my ear.

"I figured" I stated trying to hide my laughter in her curled hair. Mrs. Welsh had walked away like she always did when Aria and I were together, because she still had a little crush on me. The student grabbed some books out of her locker and closed it again. Surprisingly, she came walking toward us.

"You definitely make a very cute couple, Mrs. Fitz. Like you told us so" The young girl said with a smile plastered on her face. Satisfied with her comment, she walked away again. My curious side got the better of me, because I really wanted to know what Aria told her students about us.

"What did you tell your students exactly, Mrs. Fitz?" I said teasingly.

"We were just reading Romeo and Juliet and I wanted the class to write a poem about it, but I guess they weren't all too excited for the assignment. So I offered them to listen to one of mine about you instead. After I read it out loud, they wanted to know all about you" Aria said taking my hand in hers and leading me towards her office.

"Did you tell them anything interesting?" I asked, still curious.

"Just that I was happily married to the most handsome man in the world and that we have a beautiful baby boy together" She said picking up some papers and cramming them in her black leather bag.

"I'm sorry I missed that, I think it would have been quite enjoyable" I said pressing a kiss against her forehead.

"Can you grab my jacket for me, please?" She asked still trying to fit everything in her small bag.

"Sure" I said picking her jacket up from the chair in the corner of her clean office. She was still busy with her bag when I turned to her again.

"I told you to buy a bigger one" I said playfully. She looked up to meet my eyes in a I-know-but-I-won't-admit-it kind of way. I walked toward her again and wrapped her jacket around her.

"Let me help you" I offered and she gave the bag to me. I took the papers out of her bag and placed them in mine.

"There you go, now let's pick up our little one" I said intertwining our fingers and walking out of Rosewood Day.

It was a ten minute ride to our neighborhood, where we settled when Aria was 7 months pregnant, just in time for our newborn to arrive. It was a quiet neighborhood with a lot of young families like ours. Spencer and Toby lived across the street, Spencer was four months pregnant now. There were also some elderly people, like our neighbor, Beth. When she first led eyes on our son, she had tears welled up in her eyes. She said he looked like her own son when he was just born. She was very lonely, because her husband past away and her children lived in other states so they couldn't visit her as often. We offered her to look after him when we were both at work. There wasn't a hair on her head that would have said no.

I parked the car in front of our house and walked to the passenger's side of the car. I opened the door for Aria and reached my hand out to her. As if on cue, there was a huge smile plastered on her face as she took my hand. She came out of the car graciously and I pressed a kiss to her hand.

"You should do this every time I come out of a car" Aria said giggling.

"It wouldn't be as enchanting anymore, my darling" I tried to say all Romeo-like.

"You're probably right, my-husband-who-suddenly-turned-into-a-romantic" She said leading the way to Beth's small home. We knocked on her door and we were told to go through the back-door from a yelling Beth inside the house. We found her in the kitchen, baking cookies with our bundle of joy. His whole face was spread with cookie dough just like the rest of the kitchen and he looked adorable.

"Alex, guess who's here!" I said very happy to see him again.

"Mommy and Daddy!" The two-year-old yelled and stretched his arms out. I picked him up from the dresser and held him closely even though the cookie dough was everywhere, in his dark curls, on his adorable face and on his small hands.

"How was your sleepover at Auntie Beth's?" Aria asked settling herself on a chair next to Beth. Alex stayed over last night, because Aria and I had a date night. We did this once a fortnight. We loved to have dinner together somewhere fancy, probably because there were times when we couldn't do this. Anyways, Beth really enjoyed it when Alex stayed over as well.

"Good, we baked cookies!" He said, his overly enjoyed voice filling the room with a warm ambiance.

"That's amazing, kiddo. Let's grab your things, so we can go to the park. We have to go to the hospital as well, to check your arm for the very last time. We can come back after dinner to eat the cookies. If that's okay with you of course?" I asked Beth.

"I always love your company, you're always welcome to come over, you know that right, Ezra?" She said with an evident smile on her face.

"I was just being polite, that's all" I said to her, while putting Alex back on the ground. He ran to the living room to put his things in his SpongeBob SquarePants bag. He returned a few minutes later with his backpack around his shoulders with a proud smile on his face.

"I'm done" He said still as proud as before. His eyes lit up the small white kitchen as only a child could. All adults were speechless, he looked like the ultimate two-year-old, with his hands on his hips.

"Are you sure, buddy?" Beth asked still content with the sight in front of her.

"Yes, Auntie Beth"

"Are you leaving Teddy with me then?" She asked in a childish voice. She hadn't even finished her sentence before he was out of the room again. Teddy was Alex's teddy bear. He would never leave him behind. Beth probably told him to leave it in the bedroom, so it wouldn't get dirty like his face.

"Ready, Mommy?" He asked when he came back.

"Let's go, buddy. First give Auntie Beth a huge goodbye hug" Aria told her child. Alex spread his arms out to Beth and she wrapped her arms around him. They stayed in an embrace for a few seconds before he pulled away.

"Goodbye, Auntie Beth. I'll see you tonight" He said with a huge smile.

"Have fun in the park, buddy" Beth said before we left her house.

After we cleaned Alex's face and his clothes, we walked to the park. It was a fifteen minute walk and we took Alex in a stroller, even though he didn't like it. He was very smart and he could talk better than most four-year-olds can. We're trying to learn him how to read and he's starting to like that as well just like Aria and I do.

When we arrived at the park, we picked a quiet spot next to the fountain, because Alex loved them. I spread our red blanket on the fresh-mowed-grass. On our way over here, we bought some lunch, because we didn't have any yet. There were tuna sandwiches, some salad, a big chocolate chip cookie for Alex, two cups of coffee and some juice. We ate our food in silence, watching all the people walking by. Alex was staring at the duck that slowly walked up to us.

"Can I feed Mister Duck, Mommy?" He asked Aria while he gathered some crumbs in front of him on the blanket.

"Of course you can" She nodded to him, giving him an assuring smile. Alex threw some of the crumbs toward the duck. The duck spread his wings in excitement. Alex giggled at the happy duck in enjoyment. He decided to throw some more. Beside me, Aria snuggled up to me.

"Isn't this the most perfect moment?" She whispered in my ear. This was definitely the most perfect moment. On the perfect location, with the most important people, it was almost too perfect. Wait, I just couldn't have thought that. There wasn't anything horrible going to happen to us, ever. As long as we were together.

"Yes it is, my love" I whispered back to her, gently stroking her hair and planting a kiss on top of her head.

"Daddy, I don't have any crumbs anymore" I heard Alex yell who was now chasing the duck.

"Then play with the duck, I'm sure he'll enjoy it. But be careful with your arm and stay close to Mommy and I!"

"Okay, Daddy" He said with a satisfied smile and his attention was on the duck again.

Alex did as he was told to do and stayed close to our blanket. Aria was wrapped in my embrace as she watched Alex play. We sat there for another hour, before we had to head to the hospital for Alex's arm.

**So basically this is just a chapter to introduce the situation, the next chapter will be more like the rest of the story. I'm currently writing chapter 17 and I'm so excited for you to read it all!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Ezra's POV:

We arrived at the hospital a little while later, at exactly four.

"I want to be a big boy today and do the exercises with the doctor all by myself" Alex said out of nowhere. Alex had fell from the stairs a couple of weeks ago and he had to do exercises at home every single day. He hated to do them, because he would rather play with his toys, so he was excited that this was his last day.

"Are you sure?" Aria asked him before I could. Alex nodded in confirmation.

"Take Teddy with you though, as a supporter" Aria said just before doctor Palmer arrived.

"Hello everyone" He said before he continued, "This is your last time today, isn't it? Are you ready?"

"Yes, this time I want to go alone and be a big boy" Alex said proudly, holding onto Teddy just a bit tighter.

"Let's get this over with then" Doctor Palmer said as he took Alex's other hand and led him to his office.

"Coffee break, my dear?" I asked Aria as I grabbed her hand and rubbed it soothingly.

"Lead the way" She answered me. We made our way to the small shop on the other side of the hospital, Aria's hand still tangled in mine. On our way there, Jason passed us. He came after her after she told him she wasn't available. He even tried to rape her one time, but I was there just in time to save her. I felt Aria's grip tighten as she saw him and I couldn't blame her. I decided not to talk about it and walk further toward the shop. After we bought ourselves two cups, we settled on a dark blue bench in the corner of the shop. There were some other couples with their kids and some elderly people. I saw Aria watching a couple with two little ones.

"What are you thinking?" I asked her even though I had a pretty good idea what she was thinking.

"Just something" She said all giddy.

"And what is this something exactly, my darling?" I asked her trying to sound curious.

"Do you ever think about a second child, a little brother or sister for Alex?" She answered. I knew she also thought about it sometimes. It definitely would be nice for Alex to have a sibling, another kid to play with.

"Of course I do, I would love to have another child" I said my eyes locking with hers. Her eyes read excitement. I held her eyes locked with mine for a few moments, before we left the small shop again. We entered the right department again as we saw Wren almost running toward us. It looked like he sought us and he didn't have good news.

"What's wrong?" I asked him when he reached us.

"Alex's missing" He said a little bit out of breath.

"What do you mean, he's missing?" Aria said still processing what Wren's statement meant.

"Doctor Palmer was grabbing some equipment in the other room and when he came back, he was gone. We've searched the whole floor for him already, including the closets. He's nowhere to be found" Wren said sincerely. A single tear left my eye and I saw the tears welled up in Aria's eyes as well. She wrapped her arms around me for comfort, as I held her closer to me. Why did we have to leave Alex alone in the Doctor's office? Why didn't we come with him?

"Where's Doctor Palmer now?" I asked him still holding onto Aria.

"I think he's downstairs waiting for the police to arrive. They wanted me to break the news to you, because I know you personally" He answered after he thought for a few seconds.

"Aren't there any video-tapes from Doctor Palmer's office? So you can see what happened to him?" The thought invading my mind that there was still hope for Alex.

"There are not, because of the clients' privacy" He said in his British accent. He looked down, he felt bad for us, I could tell. We were friends in high school, we have known each other since he moved here from England. We competed with each other in every way possible, but we were best friends as well.

"Let me take you into a more private room, until the police comes. I figure they will have some questions for you as well" Wren said who went ahead of us. After a few minutes, he led us to a small and dark room. There were computers all over the place. It looked like they showed what the security cameras recorded.

"You two can just stay here until the police arrives, there is a coffee machine behind that door" He said as he pointed to a dark green door on the other side of the room. Before either Aria or I could respond, he was out of the room again. I sat down on one of the chairs sprawled around the room. Aria continued to stand, staring into the darkness. I couldn't bear to see her like that and pulled her into my lap as I wrapped my arms around her. We sat there for a few minutes curled up to each other.

"What's this place?" A sobbing Aria said looking up from her former composure.

"I think it's a security room or something?" I answered her, looking for myself to have a more detailed opinion.

"I want to know for sure if there isn't any tape from Doctor Palmer's office" She said determined. When Aria had something on her mind she wanted to do, she did it, no matter what. She could be a little stubborn sometimes, but that's something that I always liked about her.

"Let's see, these computers go like the departments are placed in this hospital, so Doctor Palmer's office should be" She paused to walk further to her right to see if there were any cameras in his office.

"here" She let out a sigh. Unfortunately, Wren was right, there was just one camera of the department and it gave a look at the reception room. Suddenly all computers went black. Aria shot me a confused look and I was pretty sure my face read the same thing.

"What just happened?" I asked her, even though I knew she probably couldn't answer me.

"I didn't touch anything. It just went black, all of a sudden" She said, her voice sounding almost a little scared. As sudden as the computers went black, they lit up again. But now, all computers held the same view from one single camera. First I wasn't sure what the place was, but after a little while I realized it was the main entrance. There were people walking through the double doors and the video seemed odd. Why was there just one camera fixed on one point right now?

"Does this seem weird to you?" Aria asked, at this point I was sure I detected the fear in her voice. I didn't really know how to respond and grabbed her hand and squeezed it. My eyes still fixated on the monitors. There wasn't anyone out there anymore, until the double doors opened again. A person with all black clothes left the hospital in a hurry. I couldn't make out their face, because this person wore a hat. The person almost passed the camera's view when I saw Teddy. Alex's Teddy.

"Wait Aria, did you just see that?" I asked her panicked.

"No, what did I miss?" She asked holding onto my hand a bit tighter. There had to be a rewind button here somewhere.

"I have to find the rewind button first, just to be sure" I said trying to sound stable again, for Aria. We went back to the middle of the room, where a lot of buttons were located. I saw Aria debating with herself as well which button it was, because there could have been millions of them.

"I think it's this one!" She practically yelled pointing with her left pointer finger to the supposed rewind button. I nodded to her in confirmation as she pressed on the button. All the cameras went three minutes back in time. After thirty seconds the blackened person showed up again.

"You see this?" I pointed to one of the monitors to Teddy.

"That's definitely Teddy" She said afraid.

**I'm excited to hear what you guys think so far, let me know!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Ezra's POV:

"I want to see it again, we might see something familiar" She said determined a moment later.

"Yeah, sure" I said as I clicked on the replay button. We watched the video another ten times, until Aria's eyes widened.

"What's that?" She said as she pointed to one of the screens in front of us.

"Let me replay the video again to figure it out" I answered her. At the exact moment that Aria said stop, a very small white paper dropped from out of the blackened person's bottom.

"It might be a note or something that will lead us to Alex, I mean, why would someone have Teddy?" She said and before she could even finish her sentence, she left the room and stormed to the main entrance. I quickly followed her and we went there as fast as we could. Fortunately, the police hadn't arrived yet. There was no one in the main hall or the main entrance, so we could have a proper look.

"So the camera is right there," Aria said as she pointed to the camera in the corner of the room, " and the note dropped around here, I think" She said twirling around at the exact spot she thought the note had dropped. There weren't a lot of hiding spots for a note, so it had to be slightly easy to find a note like that. Or had the wind blown it away? Let's just hope it didn't. We searched for the note for a good five minutes when my eyes led eyes on a very small white paper behind the flowerpot.

"Aria" I called and she immediately turned to me. My left hand reached for the note and grabbed it. With one flip the note was spread out to us;

_Do everything I say. Or else your baby boy will get hurt._

Aria clapped her hands over her mouth in shock. My eyes darted over the words over and over again, trying to comprehend what this meant. Was our innocent little child… kidnapped? Who would do something like that? What had he done wrong? I emerged from my spinning head through a sobbing Aria next to me. The second I saw in what horrible state she was in, I took her in my arms and rubbed her back soothingly. She looked so fragile, so vulnerable. As I kissed the top of her head, the police arrived.

"Are you Mr. and Mrs. Fitz?" One of the policemen asked politely. His nametag said his name was Dylan.

"Yes, we are" I answered him, because I knew Aria was in no state of responding to the police's questions.

"We are informed that your son has been missing, is that correct?" He asked as the other cop led us into the hospital. My arm was still wrapped around Aria, whose sobbing began to slow down a little.

"That's correct"

"Can you tell me what happened" Dylan said as he unlocked the door of a doctor's office. I told them everything except about the security room, the blackened person and the note. They were all silent through my speech, probably because they recorded everything so it would be audible.

"Do you have a picture?" He asked after he heard me out. I knew there was a picture in Aria's purse, so I grabbed her purse and took the picture out of it. She didn't object, because she was still slowly sobbing on my right shoulder. The two cops looked at the picture for a few moments before turning to us again.

"We'll do everything we can" Dylan said as he and the other cop, who was named Garrett, left the room. After I heard that the door was shut again, I pulled Aria closer to me and I let her rest her head on my chest. I didn't blame her for being so fragile. After the whole 'A-thing', I would be miserable as well if I was being stalked yet again. It had stopped out of nowhere, so it took her exactly one year before she told me everything about it. Her friends had done the same things with their significant others.

"Aria, look at me" I said to her softly, touching her chin with my fingers to lift her head up. Her eyes were still half-closed from the crying and she didn't look at me, she gazed at my chest.

"Please Aria, look at me" I said to her another time, this time a little bit more pleading. Finally she looked up at me with her red and puffy eyes.

"We're going to find Alex. I'll do everything in my power to keep him save, that's why I'm asking you to stay strong now, for Alex. I love you both too much to lose you" I said to her, my eyes never leaving hers. She had to know that everything was going to be okay, at least I hoped it would. She didn't answer, but instead she planted a soft kiss on my lips. It was her way of saying that I was right. It tasted a little salty from her tears, but I didn't mind.

We left the hospital figuring there was no way in staying there. Aria suggested to go to Spencer and Toby's to tell them the horrible news. There was nothing we could really do before we heard something from this person. I drove ourselves home and Aria texted Spencer that we were coming over. She didn't say why we were coming over, because she thought Spencer would pick up that there was something wrong anyway. I parked the car in our own parking spot beside our house and walked over to Aria. The warmth in her eyes was gone, her face was covered with dry tears and she looked beyond fragile. We crossed the road and opened the Cavanaugh's home. We both had the keys to each other's houses, just in case.

"What happened?" I heard Spencer say as she practically run down the stairs.

"Alex's…" Aria tried to respond, but she just couldn't. Her tears fell once again and Spencer took her in her embrace. Toby entered the dark painted hall now as well. His face first led eyes on Aria and Spencer and then on me.

"Where's Alex?" He asked worried.

"Alex is kidnapped" I said staring into the distance. Before I knew it, I felt Toby's arm spread around me in a comforting matter. I shot him a soft smile, but he saw right through it. After a little while, Toby and Spencer led us to their living room. Toby made us some coffee in the kitchen as I told them everything that had happened.

"This is the note" I said ending the story. Spencer folded the little white paper out and clapped a hand to her mouth after she read it, much like Aria's first response.

"You did good on not telling the police. It would probably mean more trouble. But what are you going to do now?" Toby asked me.

"I don't know, bro. I guess we should wait until we hear something from this person. See what their demands are" I said and we all grew silent. Sometimes one of us would take a sip of their tea or take a bite from their cookie. Spencer took one big last bite, her mouth full with the cookie. We all heard her chewing and it sounded very weird. After a minute everyone stared at Spencer in disbelief.

"Honey, what's with this chewing?" Toby asked her confused. Spencer being the polite one, never spoke with her mouthful, so she walked to the kitchen and came back with a short note.

_It tastes like plastic, I can't chew on it!_

"Spit it out then" Toby almost demanded her.

_That's not polite._

After another minute, and some very weird stares from her friends, Spencer walked back into the kitchen. We heard her gasp and not long after that we heard her say,

"Oh my god"

"Spence, what's going on?" Toby asked her with a little scared tone in his voice. She came back into the living room and crammed another small white paper in my hands. She nodded at me as an permission to open it.

_Bringing the Cavanaugh's in danger isn't smart. Check out Beth's mailbox for my first demand_

I couldn't believe this. How could this person have planted that note in Spencer's cookie? I circulated the note to Aria, whose curiosity grew with the second. After Toby had read the note as well, we all looked from one to the other.

"I'm sick of sitting here, not knowing what's happening to Alex. I'm sick of being scared, we're going to fight to get him back!" Aria said suddenly. Everyone looked at her in disbelief, because she hadn't said anything since our arrival.

**I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and an amazing beginning of 2012!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Aria's POV:

I was the first one to rush out of the Cavanaugh's house with Spencer, Toby and Ezra closely following behind me. It was a little bit colder outside now, but still warm enough to walk without a jacket. We reached the mailbox in a few seconds. The silver-colored mailbox was getting a little bit old, because you couldn't lock it properly anymore. We gathered around the mailbox awaiting for someone to open it. Next to me stood Ezra, his eyes had lost its spark, the spark I looked forward to see every single day. I took a deep breath and opened the mailbox. There was a white envelope inside, addressed to the four of us. I didn't even hesitate before opening the envelope harshly. The note was folded and I opened it as I read it out loud;

_Go to Grootmoeder's Keuken in Rosewood. Order two croquettes. _

"What's Grootmoeder's Keuken?" Toby asked after I had read the short note.

"It's a Dutch restaurant, it means Grandma's Kitchen. A croquette is a very typical Dutch snack" Ezra answered him. Of course he would know something like this, he spend some time in the Netherlands before he knew me. From the distance I saw Beth approaching us. She walked by the Cavanaugh's house, almost suspiciously, over to us.

"At what time do you think you're coming over tonight?" Beth asked with a huge smile on her face.

"Uh, Beth, I don't think we're coming over. Alex's, uh, Alex's missing" I said looking down to my feet.

"What happened?" She said genuinely curious.

"He has been kidnapped, well, let's say we're trying to get him back right now" Ezra answered her for me.

"That's terrible, the poor kid. Is there something I can do for you?"

"No, it's okay, we don't really need anything, we just need Alex" Ezra answered again.

"Well, call me when you need anything, okay?"

"That'll do" I said curling my hand in Ezra's. She went into her house and locked the front door behind her. We stood there awkwardly for a few moments until Toby spoke up:

"Are we going?" He said breaking the silent air with hesitation.

"Of course we're going, this freak has my son and who knows what else they're prepared to do!" I shot back angrily about his question. There was no going back as long as my little Alex wasn't save. He just nodded in understanding, a little backed away from my sudden outrage, but I didn't blame him, I was miserable. We all agreed to drive our own cars, Spencer and Toby in theirs and Ezra and I in ours, just in case.

The 15-minute drive to Grootmoeder's Keuken was silent, even though it wasn't a long one. I didn't know what to say or how to prepare myself for this. This person could do anything they wanted, because I sure knew that I would do anything to keep Alex save. Ezra parked the car quickly and looked for Spencer and Toby to arrive as well. They weren't there yet. I climbed out of the car and walked over to Ezra.

"We should wait for them inside, I don't want you to get cold" Ezra said wrapping his arm around me. That's why I loved him, he always took care of me, no matter what. He led me inside and he sat down in a waiting area. I took a seat on his lap, because it was very crowded. It was probably around seven right now and people waited for a free table or their ordered food. That was the last thing I could think of right now, food. After ten minutes, Spencer and Toby still hadn't arrived, so I decided to go to the bathroom to see how much my make-up was damaged, because most of the awaiting people threw very confused glances at me.

"Excuse me" I said as I walked to the bathroom. It was a very bright room with broken-white tiles and three enormous mirrors. I looked even more miserable than I thought I would look. My face pretty much reflected the way I felt inside. Broken, hurt and sad. There was a box of tissues on the washstand and I took two of them. I tried to remove my make-up with the first one and it was gross in no time. So I picked up the second one when something caught my eye. There was something written on the tissue with lipstick.

_Time goes by and they won't come. Do the dirty work yourself. _

What happened to them? My purse was still in the waiting area with Ezra, so I immediately went back, almost forgetting to take the note with me. I hurried back into the area again, crashing on Ezra's lap to grab my purse behind his seat.

"Aria, what's wrong? Why do you seem so rushed?" He asked worriedly. I didn't answer him, but just propped the tissue in his hand instead, so no one there would see, all while finding my phone in my purse. A small gasp escaped his mouth and I concluded that he had read it. I finally found my phone and dialed the all too familiar phone number. It went straight to voice mail.

"Damn Spence, this is not the right time to charge your phone" I said aloud and now I was sure that everyone was looking at me.

"Sorry" I quickly said and turned to Ezra.

"What do we do now?" I asked him.

"I guess we should order those croquettes, because Toby's not picking up either" He said as he put his phone into his pocket again. We ordered the croquettes quickly and went back into the waiting area again. There were fewer people now, but I still wanted to take place on Ezra's lap. It felt so good to have his strong arms around me, knowing that we both would do anything to get Alex back. Ezra hummed Happiness by The Fray in my ear and it made me a little bit more comfortable. Our croquettes were done in about ten minutes and we took them from the cashier. We asked him if we could take them to go, so we got them on a cotton plate. There was a short quiz about the Netherlands printed on it.

"So we got the croquettes, what's next?" Ezra asked handing the croquettes to me.

"I have no idea"

"We should get back in the car, so when this person decides to give us another odd demand we can go immediately" He suggested and I nodded in confirmation. We headed back to the car and got inside. It was getting darker and colder outside, so we walked a little bit faster. I sat down in the car and placed the croquettes on my lap. As soon as I sat down, my mind started spinning. Where was Alex? Where were Spence and Toby? Loads of questions popped up, all of them answer-less to me. I had to take my mind off of things so I decided to take the Dutch quiz, what happened to be a children's quiz.

_Kid__ quiz_

_Holland is a water country. It rains a lot, there are lots of rivers, lakes and seas and __in the__ winter there is natural ice for ice skating. What's another sport that they are good at that includes __water?_

That is obviously swimming. I once read that every kid learns to swim on a very young age in Holland, unfortunately the kids here don't always get that chance, I couldn't swim myself either nor can Alex. Wait, why are there certain words underlined? I bring the plate closer to my face to have a better look and then I see that someone did it on purpose. Kid. In the. Water? What's that supposed to mean? I take the croquettes off of the plate to see if there are more words underlined. There are three other words underlined: will he survive?

"Ezra" I practically whispered.

"What happened?" He asked when he read the hurt in my eyes.

"I think this person wants to drown Alex" I said softly.

"How would you know that?" He asked getting curious about my brand new information. I let him see the on purposely underlined words and the second gasp today escaped his mouth. I gave him a slight nod as in saying; I know, Ezra. I know. After the realization sunk him in, he took a few deep breaths. He does that often when he needs to get a few things straight.

"Why isn't there any information about what we can do to stop it?" He asked after he thought everything through.

"That's a very good question" I answered as I try to think of something we missed or didn't see. What we didn't see…

"Wait" I said out loud as I turn the cotton plate around. There was another short message on the back of the plate.

_Got the message? My demand: an ancient Scottish weapon delivered at exactly midnight on Rosewood Street 256._

"Aria, how are we supposed to get any weapon anywhere? That's illegal!"

**2x14 was so intense! Definitely one of my favorite episodes so far.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Spencer's POV:

Toby and I walked to our car to go to Grootmoeder's Keuken. Aria and Ezra already drove of and we wanted to follow them quickly, because we didn't know where this restaurant was located. We got in the car as fast as we could and Toby started the car when something caught my eye. There was something under the wiper.

"Wait" I said to him, nodding my head towards the wiper. He saw it too and unbuckled his seatbelt again. It was another note, they are really starting to creep me out! Why would someone kidnap Alex in the first place? Alex was the cutest kid you had ever seen, he was always happy, always smiling. Me being his godmother was obviously convinced about that. Toby grabbed the note from under the wiper and got back in the car again.

"What does it say?" I asked suspiciously.

"I don't know, I haven't opened it yet" He said while he opened the note. He read it and passed it through to me. Confusion was written all over his face. Now I got even more curious and I led eyes on the note in my cold hands.

_Want to help? Buy a plastic children's pool. Turn your phones off, or else…_

Why were we supposed to do those odd things? Buy two croquettes and a children's pool? It makes no sense at all!

"I guess we're going to buy a children's pool, aren't we?" Toby asked me while buckling his seatbelt again.

"Yeah, I guess we are" I answered him as we drove off to the nearest toyshop. I had no idea if they even had pools in a toyshop, but it was my first guess when I thought about buying a children's pool somewhere. We arrived at the toyshop after a ten-minute drive and we had no idea where to find a children's pool in a huge place like Toys "R" Us. Toby put his left hand through his hair, a habit of him, when he didn't know what to do.

"Where are we going to start looking? This place is like, enormous" He said letting out a sigh finishing his sentence.

"It might be better to ask someone that works here, they know this place a lot better than we do" I said satisfying us both. We saw a service desk booth on the left side of the store and we queued up there. After the other three clients were finished, we finally reached the desk.

"We were wondering if you have plastic children's pools?" I asked the woman behind the desk politely.

"Of course we do, let me call someone who's working in the store to bring you to the right area" She answered. The woman, whose name was apparently Jane, called someone on her walkie-talkie. A few moments passed by until a mid-aged man walked up to us.

"You were interested in the children's pools?" He asked us with a huge smile on his face.

"Yeah, we are" Toby answered before I could say anything. He led us through the big store until we finally reached the back, where the pools were located. There were at least thirty different pools and I had no idea which one would be right.

"Is there something else I can do for you?" The still smiling man asked us.

"Uh, no, we're okay" Toby answered again and the man disappeared into all the toys. I took a good look at all the different pools in front of me. How were we supposed to know which one would be the one to buy? I took a glance at Toby and saw him looking as lost as I probably was.

"So we obviously both have no idea which one to buy, what's the plan?" He asked me starting to walk by all the pools to have a better look at them.

"This would normally be the right time to have another note, I guess? Even though they scare the crap out of me, now would be an appropriate time to receive one" I answered him, taking the other way to walk around all the pools.

"It might be hidden somewhere, so other customers can't see it when they pass by" I heard Toby practically yell from the other side of the pool area.

"Let the adventure start" I yelled back rolling my sleeves up. There was no time to lose, so I took the left side of the pool area and Toby took the right one. I walked and searched my side quite some times, because I lost track of counting at my thirteenth time. Sighing, I threw my hands in the air in frustration, because to me the place was exactly the same time after time. It wouldn't have taken long anymore before I had given up, but then Toby came running toward me.

"I think I've found it" He just said while he grabbed me by the arm and took me with him. He took me to the opposite side of the area and he positioned me in front of a tiny pool. My eyes wandered everywhere and after a minute I still didn't see anything.

"I don't see anything" I stated. Toby walked closer to me and he stood right in front of me now. My eyebrows knitted together in confusion, why was he blocking my sight when I was supposed to see something? As I tried to say something, he silenced me with his pointer finger. I was even more confused by this action, but before I could do anything, he tilted my chin up. My eyes automatically saw a white envelope taped on the ceiling.

"You're a genius! Just one simple but very underestimated question, smart ass; How are we supposed to get it down?" I asked smiling slightly.

"I had hoped you could figure that one out" He answered shyly.

"Right" I said, because I saw that one detail coming. Neither Toby nor I were long enough to reach the ceiling, so we needed something to get higher. There were just two small problems; one, we were in a _children_ store, so everything was small and fragile. The other problem was that no one could see us, because I was pretty sure this person could watch us every move we made. Security cameras were nice gadgets, but way too easy to mess with. I looked around in search for the cameras, but they were all turned away from this area, this situation was getting weirder with the second. Wait, what am I saying? We were in the pool section, there had to be some kind of pool ladder in here to help us. My eyes raced over the area until they found their destination, a white pool ladder in the corner of the area. Toby followed my gaze and he knew immediately what I was thinking, because he raced to the ladder as soon as his eyes led eyes on it. He came back a few seconds later, positioning the ladder right under the envelope.

"Who's going up?" He asked me challenging.

"I'm the pregnant one here, so I pass this request to you" I answered him with a smile.

"I hate the fact that you get to use that as an excuse and it's actually a pretty good one, you know why?" He said as he climbed the ladder.

"Hmm?" I just hummed nodding.

"Because it works every single time, you're good" He said as he had climbed just a few steps until he could reach the ceiling already. He got rid of the tape and he handed the envelope to me. It felt heavier than a normal letter should feel like, which was odd.

"Are you ready to open it?" He said when he was back on the floor next to me again.

"Sure" I said opening the envelope. There wasn't a note inside, but a lot of money. Why would this person give us money? To buy the pool? If I didn't think this person was weird and crazy already, I certainly would now.

"What are we going to do with this?" I asked him looking up in his pretty eyes.

"We keep it, we'll figure out what to do with it later, you'll never know" He answered me grasping the ladder to put it back into place. His face suddenly changed to one filled with curiosity.

"What happened?" I asked him obvious to the fact that something indeed had happened just in front me. I looked around me to see if there was something or someone that caught my eye, but there was nothing out of place near us. When I looked back at him, he had another envelope in his hands.

"Where did you get that one?" I asked him, my first question being answered, but leaving me with another.

"It was plastered to the place where I placed my hand when I wanted to put the ladder back" He said to me. I didn't bother answering him, because I was content with his answer. Instead, I grasped the envelope out of his hands and opened it.

_Buy the red pool. Keep the box, put the pool in Beth's garden. Remember, I'm not done with the two of you._

Toby let a small sigh out and we both didn't say anything while we walked over to the only red pool in the store after he set the ladder back in place. It didn't take us long before we bought the pool with our own money, in case we needed the money later in our search for Alex. We decided to head back home, so we could get the pool in place.

**I hope you liked this chapter, there are lots of clues in here. There will be some more chapters in Spencer's or Toby's POV. Let me know what you think!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Aria's POV:

There was no way that we could get an ancient Scottish weapon anywhere. A weapon? Why couldn't it be a lollipop or toys for Alex? We both agreed it would be best to go home. Ezra had a lot of books back at home, supposedly he even had books about weapons. Then there were my folders from all the museums in the area. At least we had a beginning with an unsure ending. It was getting late as well and time passed way too fast. My tear-covered cheek leaned against Ezra's shoulder in support. It was all just too much. Alex was still missing, Toby and Spencer were gone and we were supposed to do all of these ridiculous stuff. I mean, croquettes, really? We arrived home a few minutes later, but I refused to get out of the car.

"Please, Aria, I need you" Ezra said with his pleading eyes. When I still didn't give him the attention to get out, he just picked me up out of my seat and carried me inside.

"How about this, you make us some coffee, because I know we both can use some caffeine and I start working through the books" He said to me after he had put me back on the ground again. I slightly nodded and I made my way to our family kitchen. I finished making coffee in no time, because I knew Ezra was right. He needed me. We had to fight for our son. Suddenly I was proud of Ezra, I knew this was hard on him as well, yet he covered it all up for me. At least one of us had to be strong and he played that part very well. But one of us wasn't good enough to get Alex back, I had to jump into this fight with both feet as well. I quickly made my way to the drawer where I left all the museum folders. First I organized them to the ones that could possibly have old European weapons and then I took them in more specifically. There were four museums nearby that had European weapons. But there were a lot of difficult historic words written in the folders about the weapons I couldn't quite understand, but I figured Ezra could. I grabbed the coffee and I raced up the stairs to Ezra's home office were all of our books were collected. There was one single light lit in the room, with a lot of books spread underneath it. Before I could even express the hint that I was there, he looked behind him, probably smelling his freshly made coffee.

"You're a lifesaver" He said with a very small smile when I handed the warm cup over to him. He took a small sip of his coffee, his face signaling that it was still a bit too hot. Ezra just sat on the edge of his chair, so I sat behind him on the same one. I wrapped my arms around him, I knew he would understand that it was my way of saying he was right and that I needed him too.

"Found anything yet?" I asked him, looking over his shoulder to see what he was currently reading.

"I can tell in detail what such weapon should look like, because every country had its own way of making weapons" He said pointing to different pictures in front of us.

"Do you also know the difference between old and ancient weapons? Because those two look exactly the same to me" I said to him, pointing to the two pictures in one of his books that were supposed to point the difference out.

"Yeah, I just figured that out as well. The engravings are different, because they always symbolize something that is happening during the time they are made.

"Oh, I see," I said finally seeing the difference in both of the knives, "Can you help me translate this to English, please?" I asked him as he took the folders in his hands. His eyes drifted over the colored paper as I wrapped my arm closer against his stomach and I leaned my head against his back. My eyes closed slowly until they were fully closed. A weird kind of comfort overcame my body.

"Look, Aria" Ezra suddenly said and my eyes fluttered open. I looked over his shoulder again still holding onto my arm around his muscled stomach.

"There are two places where they have the Scottish weapons. One is in Rosewood and the other one is in Philadelphia. I'm pretty sure they are both knives, so I would definitely notice them" He said taking a sip of his coffee.

"Are they still open?" I asked him curiously.

"They are both still open. But the one in Rosewood is far closer, so I suggest to go there that way Alex has a bigger chance of not being drowned" He said looking behind him, so he could see me. I answered him with a soft kiss and I held him close for just another moment.

"We should get going then" I said after we both took the last sips of our coffee. Ezra placed his books and the folders in his briefcase, just in case he would need them. We both grabbed our jackets, because it would be cold outside by now. I took Ezra's hand in mine and we walked outside, closing the front door behind our backs. Just when Ezra wanted to pull up, a familiar car parked their car in their driveway.

"Ezra, Spencer and Toby are home!" I practically yelled as I unbuckled my seatbelt. I crossed the road and I saw Ezra do the same thing.

"Where were you?" We both asked at the exact same time.

"After the both of you drove away we got another note and we had to complete another demand" Spencer told us while Toby led us inside.

"And this demand would be?" Ezra asked curiously, taking a seat on one of the chairs in the kitchen.

"We had to buy a kids' swimming pool" Spencer said. I let out a small gasp and tears started to form in my eyes yet again. Spencer and Toby had to buy a pool that this person would use to drown Alex in. They were dead serious about their offer, they would drown Alex if they had the chance. Ezra wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into his lap. I felt his warm hands stroking my hair, in an effort to calm me.

"It's just a pool, Aria. It could have been way worse than that! Like drugs or a weapon or something" Spencer said a little bit frustrated. When I heard the word weapon I started sobbing even harder. I knew it wasn't her fault, because she didn't have all the details we had. I probably would have reacted the exact same way, but it still hurt, a lot.

"Spencer, they are planning on drowning Alex if we don't follow their demands" Ezra said softly pulling me closer to him.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! Of course they would!" She said throwing her hands in the air.

"Where's the pool now?" Ezra asked Toby.

"We had to drop it of at Beth's" He answered him.

"That's weird, but I guess it makes sense, because this person doesn't make sense at all" Ezra said before he gave me a light kiss on my tear stained cheek.

"So what do we do now? We don't have any demands anymore, so how can we follow them?" Spencer asked frightened.

"Actually… we do have another demand. We have to deliver an ancient Scottish weapon at Rosewood Street 256 at midnight" Ezra said softly again as if it wasn't true.

"A weapon? How are you going to follow this demand? Do you have a plan?" Spencer immediately said.

"We do, but I'm not sure how it's going to turn out. The Rosewood Museum's still open and they have a Scottish knife" He said slowly.

"And next? Because I don't think they give their stuff to every random visitor, would you? Or were you going to steal it?" Spencer asked him.

"No, I was going to negotiate with them" Ezra answered her truthfully.

"Stop. Where there any other places nearby with those weapons?" Toby said interrupting them suddenly.

"Besides Rosewood there was one other museum in Philadelphia where they had the weapons, why do you ask?" Ezra said confused.

"Let's go to Philadelphia then" Toby said, zipping up his jacket.

"Why should we go to Philadelphia if Rosewood is way closer?" I asked him, because I got serious now myself.

"Because I have connections over there" He said smiling.

"You have connections at a museum? You and art? You've got to be kidding me. If I had known this was coming I would have recorded this…" Spencer said almost laughing.

"Yep, I do" Toby said trying to walk out of the kitchen.

"Stop. Are you going to explain who those so called connections of you are?" Spencer said grabbing him by his arm.

"I worked there for a little while, when they wanted a second floor to their museum. After the renovations were done, I helped out a little bit longer, because I really liked those people. The owners are quite old and they couldn't do certain things themselves. When I left, they said that if I ever needed anything, I was welcome" He said remembering his memories.

"I guess we should go to Philadelphia then, we have three and a half hours left, we can't lose any time" Ezra said and we all went outside. We decided to go in one car, because we couldn't lose each other again. We were just about to get in the car, when I heard a strange sound.

"What's that sound?" I asked the others and they grew silent to hear it too. I heard water splashing like it does when it comes from a garden hose. I sharpened my ears to be sure I was right I heard that. But it definitely was water coming out of a garden hose. The pool was already delivered so they could be filling it already, couldn't they? It was getting darker outside, but I could still see where it was coming from… Beth's.

**A little cliffhanger! Please let me know what you think so far.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Ezra's POV:

The look on Aria's face told me everything. What did this mean? Was Beth our crazy stalker? If so, why? It just didn't make any sense. She loved Alex like her own grandchild. I guessed that the weird demands made sense now, but that was absolutely the only thing. She loved Grootmoeder's Kitchen, it was her favorite place to go for dinner. It would also explain why the pool had to be delivered in her front yard. She also walked by Spencer and Toby's home very suspiciously. But why would she be so stupid to make it so… easy? Did she miss her children this much? To kidnap Alex to be less lonely? Would she like to have Alex all for herself, was that what this was all about?

I made my way to the other side of the car, where Aria stood, her hands covering her beautiful face. I took her in my arms instinctively and let her fall into my chest.

"Why-y?" Aria said barely breathing.

"I don't know, honey. I don't know" I calmed her. We stood there for a few moments, when Toby signaled me, he was trying to figure out what we should do next. I shook my head as in saying that I wasn't sure. There was just one way to find out what was going on, confront Beth. Toby, Spencer and I all knew that, but I wasn't sure if Aria could handle it.

"Aria, we have to check out what's happening out there" I whispered to her and she just held me closer in response.

"Please Aria, if we want to know if she's filling the pool, we need to confront her" I whispered again, pleading. This time, she didn't respond at all. I didn't want to waste any more time in getting Alex back, so I picked her up again and carried her with me. Toby and Spencer followed my lead. Suddenly, I caught Aria's hazel eyes staring into my blue ones.

"Ezra, I'm scared" She whispered. And I knew she meant it, because I could feel her body tremble. I kissed her temple and we walked further to Beth's house, where we could hear the water stop pouring. I felt my heart heavily beating in my chest, this could be it. We could handle an old woman, couldn't we? I let Aria settle on the ground again and I slipped my hand in hers tightly.

"Are you ready?" I asked when we stood in front of Beth's fence.

"As ready as I ever will be" She answered me, squeezing my hand. At her answer I opened the fence. There was no turning back now. We took the back door, so she couldn't escape as easily if she wanted to. The streetlights didn't have any effect on the darkness now anymore. Beth didn't have any lights in her backyard, so we couldn't see a thing.

There it was again, the pouring water. It sounded way closer now. Aria's sweaty hand almost slipped out of mine, but I caught it just before it could leave mine. I walked ahead of her, in a protecting manner. We had almost reached the back door.

"Ouch" We heard Spencer practically yell. I heard Toby clap the hand that wasn't holding Spencer's in front of her mouth, to keep her quiet again, but it was too late.

"Who's there?" I heard Beth yell into the darkness, she had quite an act going on. We stood as quietly as we could, but it had no effect anymore when she clicked her flashlight on. She had a broom in her other hand. When she saw us, she seemed to think for a second, as if she wasn't sure who we were, because she looked confused.

"What are you doing here?" She asked us.

"I could ask you the same thing" I said to her without adding any emotion in my voice.

"I know I shouldn't have done this right now, I'm sorry"

"I just want to know one thing; why?" I heard Aria ask her, both of her arms wrapped around my right one.

"Because I felt bad for the two of you. I know how much Alex means to you and that's why I went to church today. But everything was still a mess when I came back" Beth said. Aria and I exchanged confused looks, because she was really talking nonsense right now. Was she crazy? That could be another reason why she did what she did.

"You did that pretty much yourself, didn't you? Get into such a mess?" Aria said in a disgusted tone.

"Yeah, pretty much, but Alex loves his cookies" She smiled to herself totally blocking Aria's unfriendliness.

"Okay, you're making no sense right now. Where's Alex?" Aria said stepping forward so she could look Beth straight in the eye.

"How am I supposed to know that? God still hasn't answered any of my prayers and Alex still isn't back home now, is he?" She said concerned, which confused me even more.

"If you don't know where Alex is, what were you doing here just a few minutes ago?" Aria said her voice confused now, pretty much like what I would sound like right now.

"Like I said, it was still a mess in here from this morning when me and Alex were baking cookies. I was just cleaning up here" She said. Aria let out a breath that she probably was holding back.

"I'm so sorry, Beth" She said practically storming over to her and taking her into a forgiving embrace.

"It's okay, sweetie. It has been a rough day for you" She comforted Aria. I felt bad for Beth, we actually blamed her for being Alex's stalker. We definitely needed to focus on the people we can't trust, not the people that love and support us most.

We talked to her for a good five minutes when a thought interrupted my mind; we still had to finish our demand.

"Aria, we should go to Philadelphia now, we just have three hours left and the driving takes at least an hour if we're lucky" I told her, placing an arm around her waist in order to take her with me.

"We'll let you hear if there are any updates about Alex" She told Beth just before we left. We all climbed in Toby's car and we buckled our seatbelts. The drive over there was a quiet affaire, but I didn't let go of Aria's hand for a single second.

"Okay guys, we need to discuss a plan" Spencer said after half an hour. She was probably right, it was better if we had a plan.

"Do you have any ideas?" I asked her because my mind wasn't really functioning the way it normally should, she probably had a clearer perspective right now.

"I thought it would be the most efficient to let Toby in there first. Let him talk to one of the owners and explain the situation" She said, turning her head to us. Aria and I both nodded our heads in confirmation.

"Do we have a back-up plan?" I asked her, because there was a small chance that they weren't going to agree with us.

"I'm pretty sure they can help us, I wouldn't worry about it" Toby said while driving. We arrived at the Philadelphia Museum about fifteen minutes earlier than expected, but we figured that it could only work in our benefit.

"If I'm not back in twenty minutes, you should come find me" Toby told us before he left for the museum. All we could do was wait. It had to turn out the way we wanted it too, otherwise I wouldn't be able to see Alex alive again. He would drown because his parents didn't do everything to get him back, I wouldn't be able to live with that thought. I already felt like the worst parent in the history of worse parents, but I couldn't bear the thought of losing him forever.

It had been fifteen minutes since Toby left. Aria's body curled up closer to me every minute that passed by. She started to tremble slightly like she was cold. But I had the feeling she wasn't cold, she was nervous. Her face usually made me smile, because her eyes always sparkled when I looked at her, but this time all the joy in her eyes had lost their affection and happiness. She stared into the darkness of the night. It was like she was mentally on another planet. That was exactly how she was watching the big trees in the park. Sometimes a leaf fell and she followed it with her eyes all the way down. I knew better than her calm expression that was currently portrayed on her face, because I was sure she was spinning on the inside. Suddenly, her eyes narrowed and her eyebrows knitted the slightest bit like she had seen something that wasn't supposed to be there. Following her gaze, I saw a blackened person outside of the car behind a tree, spying on the museum.

**Liked? Disliked? Let me know!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Aria's POV:

There was someone spying on us. It took a little bit longer for me to realize it than it normally would have. From the gasp I heard on my right, I knew that Ezra had seen the blackened person as well. I noticed myself clutching me on him. It wasn't like the person was actually watching us, it had his eyes firmly fixed on the museum. Probably to report if Toby would be able to take the weapon with him. It was still kind of odd if you think about it. Why wouldn't they just go after us immediately? To me that would be a far easier solution. But then again, who am I to know how a kidnapper thinks?

"What do we do now?" I asked Ezra in a quiet and slow voice.

"I think it's best to wait and stay as calm as possible" He answered me after he told Spencer what we saw. As calm as possible that doesn't even sound reassuringly. Calm was the absolute opposite of how I was feeling right now. I felt so many emotions finding their way through my body, I couldn't even define them or put words to it, even though I was always flawless with choosing the correct words. They were nothing like the emotions I had ever witnessed before.

"There he is!" Spencer suddenly said.

"Who?" Ezra asked randomly as if he was on another planet with his thoughts.

"Toby of course. He didn't bring any kind of weapon with him though…" She said sadly. Toby bumped into the car and took his seat.

"There was someone staring at you outside or at the museum we're not quite sure about that yet" Spencer said directly when he was able to hear her.

"Where's this person now?" Toby asked her but she just raised her shoulders in denial.

"Let's get to business then. So I've some good news and some bad news" Toby said after he was perfectly settled in his leather car seat.

"Start with the good news, I've had enough bad news to process for one day" I said.

"The good news is that they are willing to give one of their knives up for you guys" He said while he looked to us in the back of his car, smiling.

"What's the problem then?" Ezra asked like he had missed the point of the bad news.

"They want money for it, a lot of money" He said looking back in front of him again.

"That shouldn't be a problem, I would give all the money in the world to get my son back" Ezra stated.

"The both of you have to sign the papers inside, so they can send the bill and all the formal stuff. I'll walk you there, so you won't waste any time on trying to find the right office" Toby said nodding towards the museum with his head, covered with the shadows of the night.

"I'm not going to stay in the car, alone, when there's some kind of crazy person outside" Spencer said looking determined which meant that she was going with us as well. We all climbed out of the car and Toby locked it behind us. It was really dark and cold outside by now, it was probably almost ten-thirty. We entered the museum and we walked immediately into the main hall. In the middle of the room was some sort of fountain with a statue in the center. Alex would have loved it, he loved fountains after all. On the sides were paintings by different artists, despite the fact that most of the paintings were black and white. We followed Toby through the museum, walking by all the beautiful art they collected in there. The actual section where we were headed to just had to be the one upstairs, because they gathered all the archaeology pieces there.

"Aren't there any elevators in here?" Spencer moaned.

"No, they didn't want any. Bob says they are too much attempt for nothing" Toby said smiling at his wife.

"But they are pretty useful for pregnant women, and may I remind you, I actually am one!" She said cranky. Toby didn't answer, but laughed at her instead. I soon realized I joined him in his laughter. It felt good to laugh, because for a second I forgot about all the trouble we were in. The archaeology area was decorated in a different style, something that fitted better with the pieces that were shown. Everything looked old, yet new. The walls had a beautiful grayish color, even though I didn't really like gray at all. Besides every vase, pan or piece of clothing was a small piece of paper with information about the object. We arrived at the administrative area, where we were probably expected. Toby knocked on one of the doors and he was told to come in.

"Hi, I'm Nicole and this is my husband Bob" She said as we all shook hands.

"First of all, I'm so sorry to meet under these circumstances. I can't even imagine what you are going through" She said and I could feel that she meant it from the bottom of her heart.

"That's why we are willing to give you a piece. And when we heard that you two are one of Toby's best friends, we couldn't help but give in" She said and she gave us a reassuring smile. Spencer murmured something about getting some coffee in the café downstairs and she left with Toby closely behind her.

"So the financial part is actually included because we kind of have to. I would give it to you for free, I really would. But I can't just give someone a weapon. There are certain rules when it comes to weapons. You can only buy it. But because I really want to help you, I brought the price a lot lower than it normally would have cost when you see these kinds of pieces on an auction" She told us.

"I don't really care what I have to pay for this, I'd rather have my son back" Ezra said to her as she led us to Bob who was stationed behind his appeared desk. It had a chestnut color with a few letters spread across the desk, all but all it looked very tidy.

"So this process is very easy, you have to sign three papers and you're good to take it with you" Bob told us while he pointed to the papers. "The actual price is," Bob continued, "21000 dollars, but we will give it to you for just 5000" He said.

"Thank you so much, Bob. Do you have a pen for me here somewhere?" Ezra asked when he was about to sign the papers with his all too familiar autograph.

"There you go" Bob said as he handed Ezra a dark blue pen. Ezra signed the papers rather quickly and I did the same thing. It was better to get back to Rosewood as soon as possible.

"Yes, that's good, now let me grab the weapon" Bob said as he left us in the office with Nicole.

"Thank you also so much, I'm not sure what I would have done if it weren't for you. I'll be sure to visit with Ezra and Alex sometime when he's back home. And if we are able to get the weapon back, we'll be sure to hand it back to you" I said and she took me in for a comfortable hug like I had known her for years. That's why I loved old people, you never feel awkward around them.

"Here it is" Bob said reporting his return. Ezra studied the weapon for a few moments and then nodded in my direction. Bob handed him a bag from the museum's kid detective anyway, where he could put the knife in. He took his hand in mine and we left the room after saying our goodbyes. We found Toby and Spencer downstairs with four cups of coffee. Some coffee was definitely needed, because I was both tired and wildly awake at the same time. We stood there and I took a sip of my coffee. It was so good to have Spencer with me right now, she knew exactly what coffee I liked; a vanilla latte. I mouthed a thank you to her, not daring to disturb Ezra's pure moment of blessing over his coffee.

"We should probably go" Toby said after we were all through at least half of our cups.

"Yeah, you're right" Spencer said as she threw her cup of coffee into a trashcan next to her, and we all followed her lead. We walked our ways out and we walked back to Toby's car. He unlocked the door and we all got inside. Ezra and I buckled our seatbelts, but Toby and Spencer just had confused looks on their faces.

"What's wrong?" I asked them, because they still looked confused after a few minutes.

"There's something wrong, but I can't wind my finger around it" Spencer said and I saw Toby nod in confirmation.

"It's almost like my seat got lower" Toby said after he thought for a little bit longer.

"Yeah, I feel like that too" Spencer agreed with him.

"That can only mean two things; someone moved our car seats lower or the tires are flat" Spencer said, the noise from outside confirming the answer to her question.

**Trouble, trouble, trouble! I hope you all liked this chapter :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Ezra's POV:

We all jumped out of our seats to see what happened to the car. When we finally got a sight from what happened, it was pretty clear, someone flattened the tires of Toby's car. There was a stud in both front tires. Someone had done it on purpose.

"So this is what the blackened person did after we left the car" Aria murmured, who stood right beside me.

"Yeah, you're probably right" I replied as I threw my hands through my hair in frustration. We couldn't use this right now. There wasn't time for things like this. But that was probably why the blackened person had done it, so we weren't going to finish our demand in time. All the things we had worked so hard for the past few hours, were grabbed out of our hands in just a few minutes, like they had meant nothing at all.

"What do we do now?" Toby asked looking at everyone for a few moments before turning to the next person.

"We don't have a lot of options, do we? One, replace the tires with the ones we have in our trunk. Or two, hail a cab" Spencer answered him after she considered his question for a little while.

"I don't know about you guys, but I don't know how to replace a tire. It's probably the easiest to hail a cab, and get ourselves to Rosewood Street 256 as fast as possible" Toby said genuinely.

"You're right, that is probably the best idea, because replacing a tire isn't one of the many talents I own, I'm afraid" Spencer said trying to lighten the mood, even though this was an impossible attempt.

"The train station is two blocks away from here, let's walk there, I'm sure there are still some cabs there at this hour" Toby said and directed us to the train station. We all grew silent, because there wasn't much to say about this situation. We all knew we were determined to get Alex back. But we were all tired as well. It had been a long, tough and hard day, and we all wished it could be over. I felt Aria's small hand intertwine with mine, it felt cold against my warmer skin. She was always cold in the fall and winter, it was something she couldn't control over herself. After almost five minutes, we arrived at the train station, with at least six cabs waiting for someone to take their ride. We got inside of the closest cab, and we got settled. Toby gave the address rather quick and we headed to Rosewood again, this was going to be a long ride over there.

The ride back to Rosewood was as quiet as the walk to the train station had been. Aria's hand started to tremble heavier and heavier in mine with every passing minute. She looked frightened and fragile. The possibility of getting there to late was still pounding in my chest. The scared face of Alex interrupted my mind every once in a while, crying for his mommy and daddy. Not knowing where your child was and with whom scared me, no, cross that, it frightened me. We were back in Rosewood after fifty minutes, just in time to deliver the weapon. Rosewood Street 256 was in the middle of nowhere, I had never been here before. There weren't any lights outside, just the car lights. There was an abandoned shed a little off of the street.

"Can you wait for us here?" Spencer asked the cab driver and he nodded in confirmation. We got out of the cab and looked at each other, none of us sure what to do. I took a glance at my watch, 11:55, just in time. But where were we supposed to leave the weapon, or deliver it to someone? Did we have to wait for something to happen or could we just go in the dark shed?

"What do we do next?" I asked the others, unsure of what to do.

"I guess we should figure out if there is someone inside" Spencer answered me, her voice secret that she wasn't so found of the plan herself. When we came closer to the shed, you could see how old it actually was. The paint peeled off of the window-frames, some glass shards were on the ground as well as still in the window, and half of the roofing tiles were gone. The place looked like a huge fight had just taken place there. If so, there's something missing, the people who actually had the fight.

"Do we really have to go in there? " Aria asked when we were almost at the supposed main entrance of the shed.

"I don't think we really have a choice. But I'm still scared as hell to go in there" Spencer said getting even closer to Toby than she already was.

"Why don't we use our phones as a flashlight?" I suggested, so we could see a little more.

"Is that smart? We don't know if this person knows we're here, and if that is the case, I would like to keep it that way" Spencer said and we all silently agreed with her. We started walking toward the shed, just a little bit further and we were there. It was silent outside tonight, but that didn't do me any good either. Five steps and we were in front of the door. My heart raced in my chest like I had never felt it before. Aria's was just the same, concluding from the heartbeat I felt in my sweaty hand. Suddenly, we all stood still in front of the door.

"Knock?" Aria whispered motioning. I nodded at her as a go. She lifted her right arm, calm and slow, and almost reached the hardwood. Two inches before her fist would finally reach the door, it opened out of nowhere. The door creaked like almost all old doors do. None of us dared to step inside, we just silently decided to take a look, while remaining outside. The inside was much like the outside, old and neglected. There wasn't much to see, because it was dark inside, the only light coming through the missing pieces of roof. Suddenly, I heard a gasp escape Aria's mouth and she buried her face in my shoulder right after that.

"What did you see?" I asked her quietly, because if there was someone in there, I didn't want them to hear me. She replied something inaudible to me, so I still wasn't aware of the fact of what just happened.

"Look!" Spencer said louder than I was talking when I whispered to Aria just seconds ago, pointing to the middle of the shed. There it was, the red children's swimming pool, filled with water and everything. Automatically, I took a step closer to have a better look. And I was scared from the loud noise the wooden creaking floor made under my feet.

"You stay here with Aria" I practically demanded Spencer as I motioned to Toby to go inside. I didn't feel safe to let Aria set foot in this shed, without knowing what was exactly in there. I felt a pinch in my side and I wasn't sure what it exactly was. Until I found Toby's vague contour in the darkness, it just read it had been him. It almost looked like he tried to tell me something. But I couldn't see his facial expressions. Then I saw his hands making a 'V'. First I wasn't sure what it could possibly mean, but then I figured he meant that it would be best to split up. He was right. The left side was Toby's and the right side was for me to explore. I couldn't see more than five feet ahead, but the pool was revealed under the moon. All I could really see was lots of junk, boxes, containers and buckets. Everything I saw was covered with a layer dust, there was nothing that could proof that there was someone in here today. That was probably why it was chosen as well. The harder I searched for something familiar, a sign or maybe even a note, the more my head started spinning.

From the corner of my eye, I saw something dark and black coming right towards me. There was nothing I could do now anymore. This was it. But instead, it didn't look quite… human. It was smaller. When it was just mere inches away from my face, I realized what it was, a bat. I hid my face with my hands, but there was no need. The bat flew easily over my head. I walked and searched a little longer until I reached the other side of the shed. There was nothing in this shed but this pool that could lead us to the kidnapper, but they didn't even buy the pool in the first place! Suddenly I heard something snap and momentarily I was blind. There was this enormous spotlight directing to the pool. My eyes got used to the light rather quick and I debated with myself whether to walk to the pool or not. I decided to follow the light to the pool, because we were basically trapped in this shed anyway. When I got closer, I saw Toby again, because of all the light that had entered the shed just moments ago. We were both on different sides of the pool as we got closer and closer. The edge of the pool was reached by the both of us at the same time. The light was cut off again, and I set my hands on the edge and looked around, still nothing worth mentally noting. But then I leaned over the edge of the pool…

**Little cliffy, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Aria's POV:

"Why does something like this always happen to me?" I asked Spencer, angry with the person who was torturing me this time.

"Probably because you live your dream, people will easily get jealous of that. You married the love of your life, you got the job you've always wanted, your three best friends always have your back and you have the cutest son imaginable. Other people who didn't pursue their dreams and wishes like you did, find that intimidating" Spencer said in one breath.

"But to have two crazy stalkers in one lifetime chasing after you, is more than jealousy to me" I replied.

"Let's just say; people are crazy. Those two different persons aren't the first ones to stalk someone with a soluble reason to do so. Jealousy is probably one of the most common reasons to justify the way they are acting, not that it is indeed justifying" Spencer said and I knew she was right. Mrs. Lawyer was always right in conversations like these. It was also one of the many reasons why I loved her as one of my best friends. She knew how to convince you of something, but it was good with her as well when you didn't share her opinion.

"Do you think they'll find Alex, or at least something that could lead us to him in there?" I asked her, changing the subject.

"I'm not sure. But I think they'll find something, the pool had to have left some traces, wouldn't it?" She answered me, genuinely.

"I really hope so. Thank you for helping me with everything today, Spence. You and Toby have been amazing to us today and I'm very grateful you didn't even think twice to help Ezra and I with our search for Alex. You jumped in with both feet, no regrets, no looking back. I have no idea how to thank you for all this" I said, tears developing in my eyes yet another time.

"You don't have to thank me. I'm sure you would have done the exact same thing for me. After everything we have been through, you will come stronger out of this. We all will. We just have to wait a little longer and fight for the ones we love" She said a single tear falling down her cheek as well, hugging me as tight as possible. I had no idea how I had earned friends like Toby and Spencer. But she was right, I would have done the same thing for her. I would support her through thick and thin.

"Do you think they found something already?" I asked her after I leaned back from our embrace.

"I think they would have called for us to come and see it" She said looking me straight in the eyes. She was probably right. If they would find something, they wanted us to see it as well. Except when it would be too horrible to look at. But I guess they would come back outside for us then.

"I feel so useless standing here outside doing nothing. But I'm too scared to go inside as well" I said and Spencer nodded her head.

"I'd rather stay outside until I'm sure it's safe in there. Toby or Ezra will give us a go when it's safe for us to go in" She said looking inside the shed for a little bit. Not that you could see anything. It was really dark inside. The only thing you could see was the pool, you could see the water sparkle a little. Spencer turned to me again with a scared looking face.

"Did you just hear that?" She whispered.

"I didn't hear anything, what was there to hear?" I asked her confused whispering like she did.

"It came from the woods on my right. But it's so dark I can't see what it was. What if the kidnapper is there?" She whispered, her voice trembling a little bit. We both grew silent to see if we could hear it again. Then I heard it as well. There came some rumbling from the bushes on my right. Some creaking twigs and leaves, that was the sound. Spencer and I both took a step back. The rumbling became louder and louder. I looked at Spencer, a scared look spread upon our faces. My whole body tightened, almost too scared to actually look at the bushes, but also not daring not to.

"What if…?" Spencer started, but was interrupted by a rabbit that came out of the bushes. A breath I didn't know that I was holding back escaped my mouth, and my shoulders relaxed again.

"Aria, Spencer, come quick!" We heard Toby call hurriedly from inside. Spencer and I exchanged a confused look and we quickly ran inside.

"What happened?" I asked as soon as we reached the pool.

"Look inside the pool" Ezra answered and our gazes soon drifted off to the inside of the pool.

_You're in time, this time. Throw the weapon in the pool. We'll play again tomorrow. _

The message was written in large dark red letters, they looked like the blood was dripping off of them. I soon snuggled up to Ezra and he rubbed my back soothingly. Were we supposed to leave it with just that? Go home and sleep? Because that was near impossible now. How was I supposed to sleep knowing that my little one wasn't sleeping in his bed in the other room? I buried myself deeper in Ezra's chest, if that was even possible. When I looked back up at him again, he looked tired and broken back at me. There was a little bit of light, coming from Toby's phone when I took a better look around me.

"What do we do now?" Toby asked after a little while.

"There's no point in staying here, there is nothing worth analyzing in here" Ezra answered him while he still held me close to him.

"The only thing we can do is go home and rest a little. We'll find out what they have planned for us tomorrow. In the meanwhile, we might get some sleep" Toby suggested and it sounded like the most tolerable offer there was to find right now. We walked out of the shed, not before I took one last look back. I was never going to forget this place, even though I hadn't spent more than ten minutes in there. Ezra also took another look at the shed and when he looked back ahead of him again, he planted a light and soft kiss to my temple. We arrived at the place where the cab was located again, where he had waited for us, just as he had promised. Toby gave him the instructions to bring us home and we all got inside. Fortunately, he didn't ask any questions why he had to wait for so long or what we had done out there, and we were all grateful for it. The drive was silent again, because none of us felt the need to say something. My eyes felt heavy and ready to close, but I needed to keep them open for just a little longer.

"Here you go" Spencer said to the cab driver after she had paid him and she paid him twice as much as he had asked her to.

"We'll give each other a call when we hear something, don't we? I guess it's best to go inside, because it's cold and we're all tired. See you guys tomorrow!" She said and we all hugged before we walked to our separate houses. Ezra unlocked our front door and we went inside. We immediately went upstairs to our bathroom, where we changed our clothes and brushed our teeth. Ezra wanted to walk to our bedroom, but I held him back. I tangled my hand in his and I led him to the one room where I was scared to be alone in right now. Alex's room. Knowing he wasn't going to sleep there tonight felt like a pang in my chest.

"Will you come with me?" I asked him, because I knew he would know what I meant, he did.

"Of course, Aria" He said as he brought a kiss to our intertwined hands. He opened the door to me, with Alex's name written on it. His room was a baby blue with chestnut colored furniture. Being a real Fitz, he had his own bookshelf, covered with children's books. But there were a lot of toys as well. His bed was perfectly made, because he had spent the night at Beth's last night. Tears crept up in my eyes as I saw all the things Alex was so used to. His tiny bed, his toys and his pacifier with I love my Mommy written across it. He wouldn't have a goodnight rest without this stuff. Even the bed at Beth's was the exact same as his own, because he can't sleep in any other ones.

"He will be reunited with us and his stuff soon, Aria" Ezra said as he held me close.

"I hope you're right Ezra, I hope you're right" I said and I left a kiss on his cheek. Ezra responded with a kiss on my lips, soft and loving.

"Let's go to bed, okay?" He said after he leaned back from the kiss.

"Yeah, a little rest would do us good" I answered as he picked me off of the ground, something he loved to do, and carried me to our king size bed. He inserted me in our bed and soon he was curled up to me on the other side of the bed. He wrapped his arms around me and that was my sign to close my eyes. I was too tired to think, so sleep overtook my body in a matter of a minute.

**Day one is over! How do you all like this story so far?**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Spencer's POV:

Morning sickness. Why couldn't I get a proper night rest without that in the morning lately? Right, I was pregnant. There was no doubt in my mind that I would have wanted it any other way, because Toby and I had longed to have a child since we got married two and a half years ago. But morning sickness was one of those things I would have liked to change if I could. When I took my place in the bed beside Toby again, I heard him mumble something inaudible. He was probably just talking in his sleep. Aria once told me Ezra laughs in his sleep, the goofball. There was no way I could sleep anymore, so I grabbed my robe and wrapped it around me. Now was a good time for coffee. I walked down the stairs to our kitchen and made myself some coffee.

Yesterday had been such a hard day on all of us, especially on Aria and Ezra. They didn't deserve something like this at all. They wouldn't do any harm to anyone, they had been through so much together already and now this. Hanna and Emily probably didn't even know about Alex's missing yet. Because Toby and I lived closer and would be able to help them, they came directly to us. Hanna lived in California, close to Caleb's parents. And I wasn't entirely sure where Emily currently was, because she was traveling the world with Maya. It was better if I informed them about the horrible news instead of Aria, so she didn't have to go over the story another time. It was 10 'o clock here so Hanna wouldn't be awake yet, so I figured I would call Emily first. The phone was in the living room, so I got myself comfortable on our brown leather couch.

"Hey" Emily said lively.

"Hey Em, it's me" I said less lively than she was.

"What's going on?" She said trying to make conversation, still not obvious to the fact that it wasn't a call to catch up.

"I need to tell you something, it's really bad news, actually" I said in a serious tone.

"What happened?" She asked curiously, Emily was always the one that couldn't hide her curiosity.

"Well, it's actually about Aria, but I think she would appreciate it if I told Hanna and you"

"Oh, Hanna is here with me, Hanna and Caleb were in France at the same time we were, so we decided to visit each other. Hold on for a second, I'll just get her" She said as she put the phone on the table, or at least something that sounded like something comparing. In the meanwhile I was waiting, I poured the dark coffee into a red striped mug and sat down on the couch again. Before I could take a sip of my coffee, I heard a door being opened through the phone.

"Here she is"

"Hi Spence" Hanna and Emily said at the same time. From then on I told them the whole story. Also the part where I wasn't included in, when Aria and Ezra were in the hospital. From the croquettes, to the pool, to our suspicions towards Beth, to our adventure in Philadelphia and finally about the shed. Throughout my story, my friends stayed quiet. They just gasped every once in a while. It took me twenty minutes to tell them the whole story and when I was done, they both remained silent. After a minute or so, they still hadn't said anything, they were speechless.

"What are you guys going to do now?" Hanna finally asked.

"It's probably the best thing to wait until we hear further demands or anything else that is related to Alex. There is nothing more we can actually do. We all hope that Alex will get home as soon as possible, unharmed as well of course" I said while I heard from upstairs that Toby was awake.

"Yeah, you're right. Do you need anything from us? We could come home to help you figure this out or something?" Emily said.

"No, you two should enjoy your staying. I just wanted to let you know what's happening here. If there are any updates about Alex or something else that happens that is of major importance, I will call you" I said while Toby walked towards me and planted a kiss on the top of my head and walked to our kitchen.

"Are you sure? It's no problem for us to come home" Emily tried again.

"No, it's really okay. I think Toby and I can handle Aria and Ezra. Don't worry about it" I replied.

"That's kind of the problem, Spence. We worry about Aria. I have no idea what she is going through right now. I mean, I don't have a kid, but I know that once Maya and I adopt a child, I would do everything in my power to protect them. Aria is always so careful with Alex, she puts his safety before everything, and now, this happens. She has been through so much already. I can't help but feel sorry for her and Ezra. And Alex too of course!" Emily said, putting all her emotions into her little speech.

"Yeah, I totally agree with Emily" Hanna said before I could answer.

"I understand that the both of you worry about them, but I think it's better for them if they don't have to deal with a lot of people right now" I said genuinely. It wasn't like I didn't want them to be here, but it was probably better for Aria and Ezra. The kidnapper could bring Emily and Hanna in a lot of trouble as well, and I didn't want to burden them with that possibility.

"Yeah, you're probably right. Tell Aria and Ezra we love them and that we will be there for them when they need us" Hanna said.

"Will do. I'll update you guys as soon as I can about everything that's happening here" I said and after we said our goodbyes, I hung up the phone. Taking the last sip of my coffee, I walked to the kitchen where Toby sat with some homemade breakfast. It smelled really good.

"Just what I was craving for" I mumbled under my breath and Toby laughed in response. We ate our breakfast in silence, until we were finished.

"How are you doing, babe?" Toby asked while we were doing the dishes together.

"If you forget about my worries about my godchild, morning sickness and my lack of sleep, I'm doing fine" I said sarcastically.

"That's good to hear. Who were you talking to just over the phone?" He asked me.

"Emily and Hanna. I thought it would be fair for them to know what is happening around here. Figuring I could safe Aria some tears telling them the story, I did it for her instead" I said and with that we were done doing the dishes.

"You're a good friend, Spence. Are you going to call in sick for work, or are you going to tell the whole story to Melissa?" He then asked, it was like he was bombarding me with questions, but I didn't mind.

"I haven't even thought about it. Melissa is out of town for some business with a new client, so she is already working. She can run a family lawyers company on her own for one day, right?"

"She probably can. I decided for myself to call in sick though, as you know I'm not as close with my boss as you are"

"It might be a good idea to give Melissa a call to tell her the main lines" I said still questioning my decision.

"Just as I was thinking you were going to do" Toby said planting a kiss on my cheek, before he left and walked into the living room. A second later, I heard him talking on the phone to his boss. When I heard he was finished, I walked into the living room to see if there was someone awake yet in the Fitz' household. Unfortunately, there wasn't any sign that could determine my question. There wasn't really anything to do except giving Melissa a call. I scrolled through my contact list and found Melissa's number. It took six rings before she answered her phone.

"Hey" Melissa said, it seemed like she was whispering, but I wasn't sure if I had heard it quite right.

"Hey, I was just calling to tell you some bad news" I said stopping, so she could say something, unless, she didn't. She probably wasn't in the talking mood, her flight probably just landed, she was most likely tired from her long night.

"Alex is missing. Toby and I have been helping Aria and Ezra the whole night in their search, but we haven't found him yet. Someone kidnapped him" I said, the last sentence in almost a whisper, still wishing it wasn't true. Poor Alex.

"I know" She answered whispering. Her statement didn't make any sense at all. How could she have known? The only ones that knew Alex was kidnapped, were Ezra and Aria of course, Toby and I, and I just told Hanna and Emily, who might have told their significant others. And how could I forget about Beth! But she didn't have any connection to Melissa.

"How?" I simply asked her, because the answer to that million dollar question seemed the only way to figure out how she could know.

"Can't talk right now. Alex is safe. I have been taking care of him" She said, soft and quick.

"What do you mean? Weren't you supposed to be in Europe right now? What is your role in this? Where are you?" I asked, all the questions dripping out of my mouth like I had been rehearsing them all week.

"I was kidnapped as well by… Ah!" I heard her scream, before she could finish her sentence.

**Saw that coming?**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Ezra's POV:

Waking up next to Aria still gave me the best feeling in the world. Hearing her slow breath beside me, her tiny body tangled in my arms, I wouldn't want to have it any other way. Normally, Alex would snuggle up next to Aria in the mornings, because he woke up early. The warmth of his petite body wasn't were it was supposed to be. Then I remembered last nights' events. Alex was still missing. My own son was somewhere alone without his mommy and daddy. I placed a kiss in Aria's hair and I held her closer to me. When I looked over to the alarm, I was relieved to see it was 11:30 already, so we both slept in. We could both use that extra rest. I felt Aria move and before I knew it, her beautiful face was turned to me.

"Morning" She said with a light smile as she wiped some of my curls away from my face.

"Morning, beautiful" I replied to her and I kissed her nose gently. She wrapped her arms around my waist and she hid her face in my chest. Our feet were battling with each other like we always did in the mornings. When she removed her face from my chest again, she looked me straight in the eyes. It felt like she could see everything about me, my entire heart and soul. My heart was hers, and hers only.

"Would you like some coffee?" She asked after a little while.

"That would be great" I said as I kissed her softly, before she left our bed and put on her robe. A few moments later, I was left alone in our room, my thoughts my only company. What would today have in store for us? Would we see Alex today again? Can we bring him home today? Or is this yet another day where he won't be coming home? I decided it wasn't a good thing to keep wondering about what was going to happen, because I would soon find out anyways. Even though I didn't feel like getting up out of my bed, I ignored that thought and went to our bathroom. Hesitating, I took a quick shower, because I was craving for that cup of coffee. After I got out, I shaved and draped a towel around my waist. Just when I stepped out of the bathroom, in order to go back to my bedroom for some clothes, Aria came back upstairs with the promised coffee in her hands. She stared at my almost naked body and then recollected herself while she gave me my coffee.

"You're seducing me and you're not even trying!" She suddenly squealed. This deserved a laugh on both sides and I took a sip of my coffee. There was a little dresser in the hall and I put my coffee mug on it.

"Come here" I practically demanded her and she came closer to me. I enveloped her in my arms and left kisses on her head. She pulled a little bit back and she started to give me butterfly kisses on my bare chest, slowly going down. When she was almost at the hem of my towel, I stopped her.

"As tempting as this is, you and I both know we need to focus on Alex right now" I said even disappointing myself a little bit.

"Yeah, you're right" She said and she turned away toward the bathroom, but before she could I spun her around and pulled her in for a kiss. A passion-filled yet loving kiss. One that felt the want of one another and also the need. We explored each other's mouths like we had done so many times before. Our tongues battled together like our feet had done just this morning. We both pulled away at exactly the same time, gasping for air. Before she could turn away again, I pecked her another time quickly on her lips. I picked up my coffee and I walked back into our bedroom again. I decided on a dark blue V-neck shirt and some black jeans. When I took another sip of my coffee, I saw that the newspaper boy was about to deliver our newspaper and other mail. Figuring it would be a good idea to read the newspaper while Aria showered, I walked outside to our mailbox. The Rosewood Observer and a letter where just delivered by the newspaper boy. Not bothering about the letter, I began to read the newspaper and I sat down inside in the kitchen. After fifteen minutes, Aria came down and she made herself a sandwich.

"Heard anything yet?" She asked, obviously talking about the kidnapper.

"Nope, not yet. I'm starting to wonder when it will happen though" I answered, not even bothering to leave my eyes from the paper. Aria finished making her sandwich rather quick and sat down on the other side of the kitchen table. She made a sandwich for me as well.

"What's this?" She said, after she took her first bite out of her sandwich, gesturing to the letter.

"I wouldn't know, I haven't opened it yet" I said handing the letter to her. Still reading the newspaper, I found her too quiet after a little while.

"Ez…" She said while she looked at me with fear evident in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" I asked, unsure of what just happened or what the letter said. Not bothering to explain herself, she put the letter in one of my hands and took the other one in hers. I looked her in the eye for a little longer, before my curiosity got the better of me.

Picture perfect, I would say. A meeting at the Rosewood train station? Done. Three 'o clock sharp.

There was a picture attached to the letter. Alex's confused, scared and crying face. The knife cut a thin line in his cheek, the blood dripping out. Aria's sobbing got louder and louder and I left the picture on the table as I knelt down beside her.

"Aria, we're going to find him. We are. Our love for him is stronger than the desires of a kidnapper to keep a kid in their hands. Shhh…" I tried to soothe her. My arms wound themselves around her small frame and I dragged her on the ground in my arms. She cried for a little longer into my chest, her sobs getting slower and lighter, until they were gone.

"Let's go to the Cavanaugh's, they might have heard something as well" I said, lifting her up so she could stand on the ground again.

"That's probably a good idea" She said straightening her clothes. Soon, she disappeared into the hall to grab her coat. I put the letter and the picture back into the envelope. Not knowing what else to do, I just followed her and grabbed my jacket and put it on.

"Ready for today?" I asked her when she was about to leave our home.

"As ready as I ever will be" She said opening the door, not before I could give her a light peck on her cheek. We walked our way to Spencer and Toby's home, when it started to rain heavily. Immediately, we both ran across the street, in order to get ourselves as dry as possible inside their home. I slid the key in the lock and opened the door so we could go in. There was no one in the living room, so we silently decided to head for the kitchen. Both Spencer and Toby were seated around the kitchen table.

"Hey, have you heard anything yet?" Aria asked no one in particular. Both Spencer and Toby kept staring in front of them, not giving a single small move.

"What happened?" Aria asked, walking closer to her best friends after they kept silent for a little longer. Even when Aria was face to face with Spencer, she didn't give a wince. Aria knitted her eyebrows together in confusion, probably, because she had never seen her friends in this kind of trance before.

"Melissa is also involved in this" Toby whispered still staring at the kitchen table.

"What do you mean, involved?" Aria asked just before I could.

"She is taking care of Alex right now. Just before she was going to tell us who kidnapped them both, we heard her scream" He answered her.

"That's horrible" Aria said staring in front of her now like Toby and Spencer did.

"Well, it's relieving to me that someone is taking care of Alex, someone I trust" I said and everyone stayed silent for a little while.

"Have you heard anything yet?" Spencer asked after a little while, escaping out of her trance.

"Yeah, we did" I said, handing the letter and the picture to her. We waited for a little while for her to read and see it.

"This looks almost familiar, the surroundings, I mean. How did you get this?" She asked after she looked over the picture for a little while.

"It was in our mailbox this morning" I stated not using too much words to describe the event.

"Have you checked yours yet?" Aria asked. Still waiting for a response, Toby confirmed the answer by running toward the front door. Before we could even follow him outside, he was back in again.

"We got one as well" Toby stated, flaring the letter just above his shoulder.

**I'm sorry this took so long, I have been really busy. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter !**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Aria's POV:

"Open the envelope already, Toby" I said practically demanding him to open it.

"I will, I will, give me some time" He said trying to open the envelope without any success. The sight was kind of enjoyable, but Spencer released him from the difficult assignment when she couldn't bear to see him struggling with it anymore.

"_Three tickets to Philly, two to NYC. Be ready for me." _She read for us after she enfolded the letter.

"Easy demands this time, I would say" Toby said looking around to his best friends.

"A little bit too easy to me" Ezra replied. He was right. There had to be a catch. The transition from a weapon to five train tickets didn't make any sense. Now I think of it, why do they ask for five tickets? There are four of us and at least three of them. It didn't feel quite right, but I guess buying a pool or croquettes was kind of weird as well. This person was probably psychopathic. People don't kidnap little children from their parents. That's just something a normal person wouldn't even think of. Or they had a motive for their actions, a reason why they wanted to take the kid away from their parents. Like some sort of punishment for the parents or the child itself. But had we ever hurt anyone? Or had Alex? There wasn't any person or any memory popping up, probably, because there wasn't one.

"Ezra is right. But how can we prepare for something like this? We don't know what's going to happen at this meet. We are like the puppets in a puppet-show who don't know the ending of the story yet, but the puppeteer most certainly does" I said staring straight forward.

"We still have two hours to kill, what do we do in the remaining time?" Toby asked looking at everyone in the group for a split second, before turning to the next one.

"Well, first, I think I need to tell you something" Spencer said gesturing towards Ezra and I. My eyebrows knitted together in confusion, because I felt like we had just shared everything with each other.

"Don't be mad at me, Aria. But I told everything to Hanna and Emily. I'm sorry if I overstepped my boundaries, but I felt like I could spare you some tears and pain by telling them the story" She said with her head a little bit down, because she was probably scared of the reaction my face would express during her little confession. But instead of being mad at her, I felt grateful. She had been right, it spared me another emotional rollercoaster. So I gave her a big hug.

"Thank you, you're the best friend I could ever wish for" I whispered in her ear, before I pulled away from her again.

"Having that part of the day over with, what should we do next? Toby said letting out a big sigh.

"Why don't we go eat some lunch at the train station? That way, we will be sure that we are there just in time. There might be some things that catch our eyes as well, so we are the best prepared we can possibly be" Ezra suggested after he thought for a little while. It was probably the most tolerable suggestion possible right now, because we all had to wait for two hours anyways. Who knows what would happen then?

"Good idea" I said and with that we all headed towards our cars. Ezra took his seat behind the steering wheel and drove off. I made sure to check if Toby and Spencer were following us and after I got my confirmation, I placed my hand on top of Ezra's. There was something comforting about his touch, even under these circumstances. His smile grew wider, when he felt my hand squeeze his a little.

"Do you know how hard it is for me to drive with you by my side?" He said when we reached a traffic light.

"I have absolutely no idea, but I have the feeling you're about to tell me" I said with a small smile evident on my lips.

"Rather than driving I would like to do this" He said and our lips were locked again. His kiss was always different yet familiar at the same. Electrifying, passionate, heated and loving, all combined to one special kiss, the one Ezra leaves upon my lips. He always makes a way of making me enjoy the kiss even more than I already did. He would bite my lower lip, lift me up, or just like now, smile into the kiss. Suddenly we were both pulled back from our moment when we heard some hooting behind us. I smiled contently and gave him one more short peck on his wet lips, before he drove away. We arrived at the Rosewood Train Station a couple of minutes later. We both got out of the car and walked over to each other. Our hands intertwined as we walked over to the place where Toby and Spencer had parked their car.

"What do we want to eat for lunch?" I asked after Toby locked his car and we all walked off of the train station parking lot.

"It doesn't really matter to me, as long as I get food into my system" Spencer answered, which deserved a laugh from all of us, Spence herself included. I recognized it perfectly from when I was pregnant with Alex, it didn't really matter what I ate, as long as I could eat enough of it.

"What about a Panini? Or for Spencer, two Panini's" Ezra said when we just walked into the hall, where he saw a little signboard, with some different Panini's listed on it.

"Get me the food already!" Spencer said noisy, which caused a stare from a few passengers who passed us by. Before we walked into the lunch room, we bought the tickets we were demanded to buy. After that, we all decided on a different Panini and we waited for our food to be served. When the waiter gave us our wood, I realized how hungry I actually was. This morning I had eaten a sandwich, but I couldn't eat more than a few tiny bites. Right now, I couldn't help but eat as fast as I possibly could. The two men and Spencer joined me in my pace, so they didn't notice it at all. We were all done in no time and we stared out in front of us. We were all thinking about the same thing; what would happen this afternoon. It was 2:30PM by now, so we had another thirty minutes before the big meet.

"What's this?" Spencer asked pointing to the napkin that lay in front of her, where just mere seconds ago her delicious Panini was in.

"This is a napkin, Spence. I thought you were the smart one here" I said as I picked the napkin up. For her to look at it closely, so she could inculcate what a napkin now really was. But when I looked at it closely myself, something else caught my eye as well.

"It's another note" Toby simply stated, because Ezra and he were suddenly fascinated in the napkin-theory as well.

"Read it" I demanded him while he enfolded the napkin, so he could read the message.

_Leave the three tickets to Philly here with the money for the food_

So this person had connections now everywhere. Even at the little lunch room at the train station. Hardly anyone ate at a train station, because everyone was way too busy to get home or catch their next train.

"I'll pay" Ezra said when Toby tried to grab his wallet from his back pocket.

"Thank you" Toby said and he shot him a soft smile. Ezra put the money in the brown basket. He hesitated a second, but then, he also left the three tickets there. When he was done, he came to me a planted a kiss on my forehead. With that, we left the small yet adorable lunch room. Because none of us knew where to go, we all stopped in the middle of the hall, looking at everything we could possibly see.

"You know what? I'm sick of this, of following the demands, without any good leads to a possible suspect. Why don't we take care in our own hands instead of the kidnapper's ones?" Spencer said her hormones taking the better of her.

"So what are you suggesting?" Ezra asked her, curious about her new sight of the kidnapping.

"Why don't we spy on the lunch room for a little bit, without lurking too much attention towards us? They have to go there and get the tickets, right? If this works, we might catch some other stuff as well, like where they hide Alex for example" She answered him, whispering a little bit, but still talking with her convincing voice.

"We don't have anything to lose, have we?" Ezra decided.

"We could lose our son, Ezra. That's what they have against us" I said creating a bad influence on Spencer's idea.

"But," I continued, "we could always try it and see how it works out, if it doesn't work out, we will deny we spied on them"

"Does everyone agree?" Spencer said, looking at everyone for at least three seconds. We all silently agreed, none of us bothering to speak. Ezra and I decided on a bench straight across from the lunch room. He settled his arm around me and I placed my head on his shoulder. Spencer and Toby were suddenly highly interested in the map of Rosewood, that was just outside the lunch room. Ezra hummed a few songs in my ear and it comforted me for a few moments. Until I saw someone familiar walk into the lunch room.

**Sorry for the long wait, I'll try to update again soon. And let me know what you thought about this chapter!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Toby's POV:

"Look, Spence" I said pointing to the woman who walked into the lunch room. She looked around her, as in to see if someone was following her, before she went inside.

"That was Melissa, even in black clothes I would recognize her anywhere" She said after she observed her for a little moment.

"So what do we do now? It looks like Melissa has to do the dirty work and Alex is nowhere in sight" I said, looking at her.

"It's probably the best to wait, until she comes out. We can follow her then. Because it's crowded right now, no one can see we are following her, including herself" She answered me, while she slipped her cell phone out of her purse. According to the plan, Spencer probably send Aria a text with her plans, so they wouldn't interfere in our chase. We both looked at them and we saw a slight nod coming from the couple. They were going to stay on the bench and walk into the lunch room again to see if there were any leads there. After a few minutes, Melissa came back out. She looked around her again, hesitating a little, before she walked towards the main entrance. Slowly, Spencer and I started to follow her, making sure there were a few people in front of us, who would block her sight on us. We passed Aria and Ezra and continued from there on. It looked like she was going to quit the train station. The kidnapper was probably still outside. She passed a lot of people, not bothering to look behind her again. She walked very fast, almost too fast for Spencer to keep up. Suddenly, Melissa stood still, because her cell phone rang.

"What do we do now?" I asked my wife. She thought for a little while, before she found us a hiding spot behind a huge plant. She led us behind it, so we could still see Melissa through the leaves. Just when we were safely behind it, Melissa turned around to look at the exact spot we were standing just mere seconds ago.

"That was close" Spencer said, her eyes still locked on Melissa. Melissa mumbled something to the person she was speaking to. It looked like she was getting angry, or that the person on the other side of the phone didn't believe her. She hung up the phone angrily and continued her way to the entrance. Spencer and I continued our chase after her. The hall surrounded us with more and more people. They all walked up against us. Spencer and I deserved a lot of angry looks from the people we bumped into and it took us longer before we arrived at the entrance. When we were finally there, Melissa was nowhere in side. We had lost her and our chance at finding the kidnapper before the meet.

"What do we do now? I asked her, the same question I asked her just a few minutes ago.

"For the first time in my life, I have absolutely no clue" She said while she wrapped her arms around me. My arms found a way around her as well, and I stroke her back in comforting manner. Placing a few kisses on the top of her head, I started thinking. There were two things we could really do. Go back to Aria and Ezra to tell them that we failed and see if they got something. Or we could find some stuff out about Melissa. There might be some signs or notes or anything at all that could lead us to the kidnapper.

"What about we go back to your parent's house? To the barn?" I suggested. Spencer took a step back, a confused look spread all over her beautiful face.

"She might have left something for anyone to find out how she was kidnapped herself, or where she has been hiding last night" I said.

"That would be something for Melissa to do. You're probably right, but first I'll just text Aria to see if they found anything. And it's nearing three 'o clock as well" She said, grabbing her phone out of her purse. The message was send in no time and we stepped outside, so we could see if there was any sight of Melissa there. Unfortunately, Melissa was nowhere to be seen, just like we had thought. Spencer jumped back when she felt her phone buzz in her purse, but soon reinstated herself when she realized it was just her phone.

"They haven't found anything either. They think it's a good idea as well for us to go home and see if we can find anything. Aria says they can handle the meet by themselves" She said summarizing Aria's text.

"As long as Ezra is by her side, I think they will get through it, because Aria isn't as stable as she looks like right now. She is a wreck and I can't blame her" I said, worrying myself over one of my best friends.

"I know, she is so vulnerable and fragile right now, but she has Ezra. And I think it's better for the four of us to split up. We can find out a lot more if we are in two groups" She said, taking my hand as she led us to our car. When we arrived by our car, there was yet again a note attached to our wiper. I removed it quickly and spread it out for us. But it wasn't a note, it was a picture. Just like Aria and Ezra had received one this morning. The picture was taken in the toy store. The two of us held the envelope with the money. All this time, I had kept the money in the safe in our bedroom, because we both weren't sure why we had received it in the first place. We hadn't told Aria and Ezra about it either.

"What is so important about this money?" I asked Spence, but from the look she shot me, she was just as confused as I was.

"I don't know, but I'm pretty sure we're going to figure out soon" She said and she walked to her side of the car. After I did the same thing as she did, we both buckled ourselves and I drove off. It wasn't a long drive to Spencer's parents' house, but there was some traffic along the way so it took us a little longer to get there. We made small talk during our drive, both of us avoiding yesterday's and today's events as a subject. We arrived at the Hastings' home at exactly three 'o clock. The meet was right now.

"Please let this meet go well, please let Alex be safe in his parents arms again" Spencer prayed before she got out of the car.

"I hope so too, Spence. I hope so too" I said, following her towards the house.

"Where do we start?" She asked me when we were in the backyard, both obviously doubting where we should go look first.

"Where was Melissa yesterday?" I replied her with a question.

"She was at the office in the morning, but she went home early, so she could pack before she went on the business trip" She answered.

"Her clothes are in the barn, so then let's just start there, if there is nothing there, we can always decide whether we check the house out as well or not" I said before we both walked to the barn. Spencer unlocked the door with her key. We both took a huge breath, before we went inside. Spencer opened the door for us to enter. The hall looked quite normal, Melissa's jackets and rain boots neatly lined next to each other, color wise. Spencer's hand fumbled its way into mine as we continued our way to the kitchen. Melissa had left some leftovers on the counter that she was probably going to eat. Her table was already served as well, what was odd though, there were two plates, instead of one. Melissa had always lived by herself after Ian committed suicide. Right after Ian's death, she had a miscarriage, so she also lost her baby. She never got over neither of their deaths. The only happiness in her life was Lizzy, the dog she bought exactly a year after Ian's death. Speaking of which, where's the small yet cute dog?

"Spence, where's Lizzy?" I asked her. Not long after I said Lizzy's name, she walked up to us sleepily.

"Come here, Lizzy" Spencer demanded Melissa's dog, and she did what she was told to do. Spencer stroke her back.

"Do you think she needs a walk?" I asked her.

"She's probably here for a whole day by herself, so I think she does" She answered me.

"Okay, here's the deal. I'll take Lizzy outside for a little bit and you go find something to eat for her" I suggested which Spencer answered with a nod. Just when I opened the front door, Lizzy got outside as fast as she possibly could. She rolled in the red leaves in the back of the yard and got comfortable there for a little bit. After Lizzy's need was over, I took her back inside.

"Spencer, where are you?" I yelled through the house, because she wasn't in the kitchen anymore.

"In here" She yelled from the room linked to the kitchen, Melissa's bedroom. I followed her voice to the room and found her on her knees, hands covering her mouth.

"My god, what happened in here?" I asked after I saw the battlefield myself.

**I really hope everyone enjoyed this chapter - let me know what you think!**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Aria's POV:

Sitting next to each other on the bench, we followed Toby and Spencer with our eyes until they were out of our sight. Ezra grabbed my hands from my lap and rubbed them softly.

"They will talk to Melissa. She will lead them to the kidnapper, don't worry, beautiful" He said tangling our fingers together, one after the other.

"I really do hope so, because I'm not sure what this meet will bring" I replied, leading him into the lunch room. We headed towards the table we sat at just a few minutes ago, but there was really nothing special about it. No notes, odd things or anything else that Melissa could have left. After we knew for sure there was nothing there anymore, we walked back to our bench.

"This doesn't mean anything, Spencer and Toby can still reach Melissa" Ezra said, trying to comfort me.

"I know" I just answered, resting my head on his left shoulder. Ezra's body warmth made me comfortable as I watched all the people passing by. Some of them were running, but caught their train just in time. Others welcomed their friends or family with a loving hug. All those people had a different story to tell. None of their stories could possibly overtop mine. Having two stalkers in one lifetime, is insane. Now I think of it, most of the people probably thought those things only happen in the movies, they wouldn't even believe me when I told them about it. I would hear them whispering behind my back after I told them the story of my lifetime, probably saying I was freaked out, mentally damaged or depressed. We never liked talking about our past, me and my friends. But now I was reliving it all over again, my family being the circle of attention. Alex. My beautiful child, my baby boy.

"Aria…" Ezra suddenly said, pushing my thoughts away again.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"I have said your name at least five times. Anyways, your phone just buzzed" He said, handing my phone to me. Because I wore a dress and a very petite purse, there was no room for my phone, so I gave it to Ezra, so he could keep it for me. There was a new text message from Spencer.

Lost Melissa out of our sight. It might be a good idea for us to check the barn out. Can you handle the meet with each other? Love, Spencer & Toby.

Ezra read the text over my shoulder, him being the curious type. I replied rather quickly and I started to stare at the big clock right in front of me. Time passed by way too fast for my liking. I wasn't prepared to face this yet. There was a slight chance that I would never be ready for this. What would this meet bring, answers, questions, reasons or none of the above? Ezra and I both remained silent until there were five minutes left. I wasn't ready for something as big as this. Even though I didn't even know what was going to happen, I was terrified. Never was I ever this scared before. Ezra saw the doubts in my eyes and he held me closer to him. He kissed my cheek softly, but that wasn't what I needed. I turned around so I could face him and he saw what I really needed. A kiss. A loving and sweet kiss. A kiss that would prove that we were there for each other, no matter what was going to happen in just a few minutes. Even after we both pulled back, catching our breaths a little, I could still feel his wet lips on mine. We hugged for a good three minutes, until Ezra pulled away.

"We should probably get ourselves to the train station to New York. We still have those two tickets, they need to have some meaning, right?" He said and I answered him with a small nod. He took my hand carefully in his as we made our way to the right platform. After we found it, we both stood still. There wasn't anyone around us anymore. On the other side of the platform, a train just arrived. It was the train to Philly. This time there was no sign, no note, no anything! Just an empty platform. But yet again, it wasn't three 'o clock just yet. There was still at least a minute to kill. I kept staring at the clock, there was some kind of bomb in there, that would blow up at exactly three 'o clock. The last minute started to tick there way on the clock like there was not a single worry in the air. Ezra probably caught me staring at the object, because he wrapped me in his arms.

"We can do this, Aria. Our love for our son is way stronger than the desires of a kidnapper. They'll give into us ultimately" He said, choosing just the right words to encourage me to be strong. And most importantly, showing this person I'm not scared of them.

Dong.

There it was three 'o clock sharp. I pulled away from Ezra so I could look around me. Yet again, no one in sight. All the people who went to Philly by train, went in now.

"There won't be any train here for at least an hour" Ezra said after he had inspected the train information monitors.

Bonk. Bonk.

I wasn't sure what the sound was, but it sounded soft yet hard. Looking around seeing were it came from, I saw that Ezra did the exact same thing.

Bonk. Bonk.

It was the same sound, a little harder this time, but it didn't sound closer than before.

"Look!" Ezra said as he pointed to the train that went to Philly. First I wasn't sure what he was pointing at precisely, because there were lots of people in the train. But then I saw him. My little boy with Teddy in his arms. Alex. Beside him were two people in black clothes. The blackened person on his left was most definitely Melissa, because she looked quite more feminine than the other one. The cut on his cheek looked bigger than on the picture. It hurt me to look at him like that, so fragile and alone. The sound had come from his small fists on the glass. He still looked whole except for the cut. He wasn't hurt in any other way from what I could see from this point of view. His face was covered with tears, but there was a big smile on his face at the sight of Ezra and I, his mommy and daddy. He held both of his hands on the glass, like he wanted to free himself out of the train, but there was something pulling him back. The person on his right had one hand strongly on his back, Alex wasn't strong enough to fight him, so he just stayed where he was.

"Come on, we might catch the same train!" Ezra practically yelled as he dragged me with him, our hands linked with one another. In a glimpse I saw Alex's tears crawling down his face once again, like he thought we would ever give up on him. Ezra and I ran our ways to the other platform, bumping into at least three people, throwing quick apologizes while sprinting further. The stairs were the only blockade between Alex and me. Five steps to go. Four single steps. Three steps. Two. One. And with that, the train closed their doors and it started to drive off. When Ezra and I had reached the actual train, it was moving already too quick for us to open the doors again. I only had eyes for Alex now, who was fast approaching us. Unsure of what to do, I decided to blow him a kiss and I mouthed him an 'I love you'. Not that it really mattered anymore, he thought we had given up on him by now. The blackened person whispered something in his ear, which made him cry even harder. I hadn't even noticed I ran beside the train, so I could see him for as long as possible. Then suddenly, the train was gone, including my baby boy. Tears, I hadn't noticed were slowly falling down my cheeks, reached my lips and it tasted salty, much to my dislike.

"Shhh" Ezra whispered in my ear as he wrapped his arms around me from behind. He had probably watched me all this time while he had given up the courage the minute he saw the doors of the train close. Tears fell and fell and fell like it would never end.

"I have lost my child forever, Ezra" I stated.

"I don't want you to say that Aria," he said as he spun me around ", we will get Alex back, no matter how long it will take us, we will be able to take him home again. Because we love him and our love can conquer all" He said as he wiped some of my tears away.

"Do you really believe that?" I asked, locking eyes with him.

"Of course I do" He said as he brought my body closer to him. He wrapped his strong arms around me, he stroke my hair and planted a few kisses on the top of my head. I inhaled his delicious scent, one of the few things that kept me at rest in any occasion. If it hadn't been for the noise of the train that arrived at one of the other platforms, I swore I could have fallen asleep right there, in his safe arms. Ready to wake up and realize that all this was just a nightmare.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Spencer's POV:

"It looks like she was packing for the business trip and the kidnapper tried to take her with him, but she didn't want to. I think they actually fought for a little, because I'm pretty sure that's blood" I said pointing to the small spot on the other side of the room.

"Yeah, I think you're right. So that means Melissa wasn't happy to see this person or the kidnapper was blackened already and she immediately got scared. Both ways would fit, I guess" Toby said sitting down next to me, wrapping an arm around my shoulder.

"I never estimated Melissa to be the fighter type, but I guess we can all be wrong sometimes" I said as I stared in front of me to the big mess. There were clothes, shoes, books, magazines and the suitcase she would have used, spread all over her bedroom. Her bedding was cut with something that looked like a knife. I wasn't sure about it and I wasn't going to touch it either. Suddenly, I couldn't bear the sight in front of me anymore and I just stormed out of the room, leaving Toby behind. I found a chair in the kitchen and I sat down with my hands in my hair, looking down.

"What just happened?" Toby said a few seconds later as he came out of the room as well.

"I just couldn't look at it anymore" I said while I felt my fingers being intertwined with his. I looked up to see him on the ground in front of me.

"I understand, it'll be okay. Melissa and Alex will both be fine. They have each other or at least Alex has Melissa" He said playing with our intertwined fingers. We sat there for a little while, the both of us just staring at our fingers in my lap. When we heard my phone buzzing, it felt like I had slept for a little while instead of staring in front of me. I remained in my seat, until I remembered you need to pick up a phone in order to answer it.

"Shouldn't you get that?" Toby asked as he smiled a little at me.

"Yeah, that's what you do when your phone rings" I said while I walked to my purse. My phone was still ringing, so someone must be calling. The first person I thought of who would call me was Aria and when I checked my phone, I was right.

"Hey" I said while I picked the phone up.

"Hey, it's me" Ezra said letting out a sigh.

"How did it go?" I asked quickly. Toby motioned me for him to hear the conversation as well. Pressing the button for the speaker, Ezra continued.

"It was awful. We saw two blackened people in the train in front of us with Alex. His face, it was just… indescribable. We ran as fast as we could to the other side, so we could catch the train as well, but we were just a few seconds too late. Alex isn't in Rosewood anymore, so the chance in finding him just got smaller. Aria can't really talk about it now, but I thought you would want to know what happened"

"I'm so sorry, Ezra" I said sincerely.

"Yeah well" He said searching for the right words to say in a situation like this. There was an awkward pause, none of us were sure of what to say.

"So have you guys found anything yet?" Ezra eventually asked.

"Well Melissa sure didn't want to go along with the kidnapper. Her bedroom is a complete mess, there is even some blood there" I told him.

"So we decided that or Melissa wasn't happy to see this person or they were blackened already. It is both very possible. So now we need to find a connection between Alex and Melissa" Toby explained.

"Okay. So what's the plan?" Ezra asked after he heard us out.

"I think it will be best if we stayed apart. We can work from both sides. We will go after Melissa and try to find some traces that will lead us to her. You and Aria will take the next train to Philly to see if you can find something there" Toby answered after we all thought for a little while.

"I guess you're right" Ezra said. After we said our goodbyes, I hung up the phone and looked at Toby.

"This nightmare is just continuing, isn't it?" I said as I wrapped my arms around his stomach.

"Everything will be okay" Toby said as he pressed a kiss in my hair. We stood there for a little while, until I loosened my arms from his tight grasp.

"Let's go inside that room again, there has to be something that will say something" I said, determined now again to find the person who did all this to the people I loved. As I walked into the room again, I heard Toby's footsteps right beside me.

"Where do we start?" He asked when we both stood motionless in the middle of the room. If I had the answer to his question, I would have answered right away, but I didn't. This was going to be harder than I thought it would be. It always looks so easy on TV, but in reality, it's one big mess just like this room.

"How about we start to portray a scenario?" Toby thought out loud, after we both had remained silent for a little while.

"Sounds good. Melissa always packs her suitcase for business trips in the middle of the room, much like where we stand right now. That's what she did this time as well, because her shoes are right under her bed" I said matter-of-factly.

"When she heard some noise, she probably walked to the door and tried to open it. That's when the knife probably made the cut in the door. When something like that happens, you walk back into your room, I guess, and crawl under the covers of your bed. That explains why the bedding is such a mess. This person came inside and saw her right away. The knife was used again for the bedding and pillows, it probably cut in her skin, what would explain both all the cuts and the blood" Toby said, his voice lowering a little with every word he spoke. I can't believe Melissa went through something like this. She must have been frightened to say the least.

"I don't know what happened next, but at some point he pushed her against the mirror, because there is a reflection of her body on it. The suitcase must have been thrown all around the room, because her clothes are in every possible place in the room. The only thing that's still uncommon to me, are the roses on her bed. Was the kidnapper trying to seduce her?" Toby asked after he had summed up everything that looked out of place in the room. There were also a lot of white small feathers, but they must have come out of the pillows.

"I have no idea. If that would be true, that would mean that she knew this person or at least they did know her" I simply stated.

"That's something we should add to the list of things that we know about this person. Do you think she left her phone here? It would be easier to just scroll through her contacts" Toby asked while looking at me.

"No, she didn't , she called me this morning with her own cell phone. There is a chance that she has her contacts backed-up on her laptop. You know how Melissa is, she saves everything at least three times" I answered smiling at the always secure quality of hers. Toby and I made our way to the kitchen, where her laptop was on top of a drawer.

_Pang._

"What was that?" I asked knowing I heard the right sound. My ears won't cheat on me and neither will my brain, but I still needed some clarification.

"It sounded like .." Toby stopped in the middle of his sentence. That was all the clarification I needed, so I grabbed his wrist and took him with me. In just a matter of a few seconds, we were outside when we heard the exact same sound again and right after we heard glass break. It sounded really close, so it had to be shot somewhere in our neighborhood.

"Which way?" Toby asked slightly hesitating.

"I think it was that way, but I'm not sure" I answered as we both walked in the direction of the DiLaurentises back yard. We didn't walk fast, but we didn't walk slow either. This was one of the most scary moments out of my life. We knew there was someone with a gun out there, doing who knows what. The further we walked, the tighter my grip on Toby's wrist got, until suddenly, he stopped.

"What's that?" Toby asked pointing to something in the distance. Just then I noticed I had been staring at the ground our whole walk here, probably because I was just too scared to look up. It didn't matter anymore to be scared, this was the time to be strong, so I looked up. Jason's shed was covered in blood, one window had lost its glass and it had shattered to the floor and there was nothing moving not even a bug. This time, Toby led me to the shed to see things from closer hand.

"Ready?" He asked, his left hand already resting on the spotless doorknob. I took a deep breath before I nodded, signaling him to open the door. He pushed the doorknob down slowly, like he had all the time in the world, until he could open the door. The door didn't creak, much to my dismay, because it was way too silent there for me. Toby opened the door slowly, until it hit the wall. Neither of us looked inside. I didn't dare, until I heard Toby gasp.

**I'm so so sorry it took such a long time to update, but I'm back! I will definitely update the next chapter faster, because I want you to be able to read the rest of the story. I still hope you enjoyed this chapter.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

Ezra's POV:

Our train would be arriving in just a minute since Philly was just 20 miles from Rosewood. Aria's sweaty hands were wrapped in mine, a little too tight for my liking, but I wanted to hold on to her grasp, so I left them there anyway. She stared blankly ahead of her. I could see her mind spinning, all the questions running through her without the answer to any of them. The train suddenly stopped, but we both remained in our seats. After everyone had left their seats, we stood up slowly and silently like we had all the time in the world. When we came out of the train we both looked around, waiting for something to catch our sights. But even after a minute or five, the train station still looked as normal as could be.

"What do we do now?" I asked her. She remained silent like she was thinking what she might answer. Most likely, she had no idea, just like me. I figured it would be nice to have some caffeine rolling through our bodies, so I took Aria to the nearest booth. After I ordered our favorites, I started to chitchat with the salesman.

"I always love to make up stories about the people passing by this booth. A young couple, who see each other again after a long, long time. Or some students who still have the heads in their books" The salesman said, probably because he didn't have any other customers.

"Have you seen any interesting people today?" I asked curiously, figuring that he might have seen two people with all black clothes and a little boy.

"A group of soldiers, a few first-graders visiting the train station with their teachers and I think I saw Melissa Hastings today!" He exclaimed. Aria and I shared a look, none of sure why he knew Melissa by name. But after a few seconds it sunk through, her and Spencer had the biggest and most important lawyers company in Pennsylvania. The guy probably sold dozens of newspapers every day. It wouldn't be the first time they made the front page.

"You did? She's a friend of ours! At what time did you see her? We would love to talk her, we haven't seen her in quite a while" Aria said. The lies rolling over her tongue just like she used to do towards her parents when we still had to huddle up in my apartment.

"I think I saw her walking hand-in-hand here with a young man and a little boy, a little over half an hour ago. They went straight out of the train station and hailed a cab. I didn't know she had a family though" The salesman said. After he finished his sentence an old woman ordered a newspaper and a coffee. Aria and I exchanged another look and we left the booth without telling the salesman goodbye. We quickly made our ways outside to see if we could find a cab. There were three cabs parked beside each other, there were all coming from the same company.

"Can I ask you something?" I asked the taxi driver who nodded in confirmation.

"Do you know if one of your colleagues has driven Melissa Hastings in the last half an hour?" I asked rather quickly.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not required to give you this information" He answered like he had rehearsed the sentence over a thousand times.

"I'm totally aware of that, but it's important. My son has been kidnapped and I'm pretty sure she can tell me where he is" I said determinedly.

"People make up stories all the time! Lying about a son being missing is by far the worst I have ever heard, it's just delusional" He answered, a little outraged. I was just about to fire something back at him, but Aria pulled me aside before I found the right words to say.

"You listen to me, chubby taxi driver person. My son is missing. A two-year-old needs his parents. We have been trying to find him for almost 24 hours. You will not disturb my path towards my son, because of some lame rules, understand?" She said fiercely. The taxi driver was taken aback by her attitude, but I'm pretty sure he believed her at that moment.

"_I_ drove them to a small lumberjack cottage in the middle of the woods. The little boy was crying the whole drive there, I'm pretty sure he yelled for his Mommy and Daddy as well" He told us, this time answering sincerely and I saw in his eyes that it was true.

"Drive us there" Aria just said as she opened the backdoor. We both got inside and the taxi driver soon started driving.

"Have you seen the face of the man accompanying her?" I thought aloud.

"No, not really. He wore a hoodie, so I couldn't make out a face or anything" The taxi driver answered.

"After the whole Beth-situation, I haven't even thought about it, I mean, who it might be" Aria whispered in my ear as she rested her head on my shoulder. My arm was around her, so I could keep her the closest as possible to me.

"Me neither. But now that I think about it, we saw Jason before we went to grab coffee, remember?" I answered her, my head now resting on hers.

"You're right! Now that I think about it, he had the opportunity, he has motives and Melissa obviously knows him. I mean, what other reason would there be for them to walk hand-in-hand?" She said while her hands were playing with mine.

"I don't really see any, except that Jason might wanted that so she wouldn't escape. How did they treat my son?" I asked louder now, so I would be audible enough for the taxi driver.

"It was pretty obvious to me that he wasn't theirs. The man treated him like he had just committed a crime or something. He was pinching his arm the whole time. The only thing the boy could do was sit there and cry out in pain. The woman was too astonished to do anything about it. It was like there was something behind the relationship between the man and the woman. A weird sort of agreement. One thing for the other. But I could be wrong, I guess" He said while he drove into the woods.

"Do you think they have known each other for a longer time than 2 days? Did they say any names or places or anything that could be useful for us?" Aria asked getting her head off of my shoulder.

"No, they didn't communicate in any way. The man just whined about the boy. According to him, the boy was too spoiled, too tearful, too loud and what not. But at the end, I noticed some sort of jealousy in his behavior and his voice, which is kind of odd in this situation, isn't it?" He said suppressing a laugh, but he probably realized just in time in what kind of position we were in. Neither Aria nor I knew what to say next, so we both got lost in thought or at least I was. All this was new information to us. It's dreadful to know how your son is tortured and there's nothing you can do about it. Nothing. A father who couldn't protect his own son, what kind of father was that? In another context I probably would have said he was a shame, but now, I'm in the exact same situation. I felt powerless. Soon I felt Aria's head on my shoulder again and just a minute later she closed her eyes. I stroke her sweet-smelling hair and closed my eyes as well.

"We're here" The taxi driver stated. I had no idea for how long we had been asleep, but it must have been for quite a while. We were in a total secluded area. It even surprised me there was something like a road. The taxi driver was right, there was a little lumberjack cottage on the other side of the river. Fortunately there was an old and half-broken bridge, so we could cross the river.

"Thank you for the ride, actually, thank you for everything" Aria said as she paid him. I hadn't even realized she was up as well. We both got out of the car and Aria quickly scribbled his phone number on a small blue piece of paper. I took her hand in mine and we both inhaled deeply before taking a step in the direction of the cottage. I had no idea what to expect. Would Alex still be there? What would Jason want far away in some woods in a small, old and stinky cottage? But then again, who wants to kidnap a little kid?

"Are you sure this bridge will hold us?" Aria asked when we were about to step on it. In a way she was right, the bridge didn't look too stable, but there was no other way to the other side either.

"I'm not, but we don't really have another option, have we?" I said as I heard my statement echoing through the wide woods. Aria shot me a scared look and I couldn't blame her. This wasn't something I would want to do voluntary either. But we had to do this. Or else.

"Come on" I said as I squeezed her hand while we set our first step on the bridge. The old bridge creaked from all the sides, but after we shared a look we took the next one. This went on that way until we were halfway through. A plank was missing, so we had to take a bigger step. Aria was the first one to take the step, but she didn't see that that one was loosened and she fell. She fell all the way through the bridge.

"Ezra!" She just kept screaming. She was still holding on to my hand, but our sweaty hands couldn't keep each other in our grasps much longer.

**I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I'll try to update sometime soon (:**


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

Aria's POV:

"Ezra, don't let me go, please" I screamed as he wrapped his other hand around my wrist. He lie across the bridge.

"Aria, let me grab your other wrist, it isn't as sweaty as your hands" He demanded as I reached my right hand out to him. His hand was wrapped around my wrist in no time. And then you think it couldn't possibly be worse, it started raining. It made the woods a lot darker, but I was pretty sure someone was nearing us.

"Ezra.." I said as I saw the person with a dark hoodie come behind him. Ezra wasn't fast enough to look behind him, because he pushed Ezra into the hole. We fell into the river which was just two feet further down. Fortunately Ezra didn't fall on top of me, but just one feet beside me. The cold water hit my body and I started shivering. I tried to swim, because my toes couldn't reach the ground. I figured it was pretty deep out here. My head went under water several times, because I never learnt how to swim. When my head went under water once again, I felt a pair of strong arms around me. Ezra's strong and safe arms. He swam me to the shore, where he laid us down as we both started coughing. Loadings of water had entered my body. After a few minutes the coughing slowed down, until all was quiet again. Except for the pouring rain and the floating river, I might add.

"Thank you, Ezra" I said as I wrapped my arms around him. Tears welled up in my eyes as I remembered precisely what happened just a few minutes ago. If it wasn't for Ezra, I probably would have been drowned.

"You don't need to thank me, Aria. I will always take care of you" He said as he pressed his lips to mine. When we both pulled away, I remembered the person with the black hoodie again. Suddenly I stood up and twirled around. There was no one to be seen. Just like I thought. He came and went, just like the wind.

"What do we do now? I just have one hoodie in my purse" I said as I locked eyes with Ezra again who stood right beside me now. Fortunately, my bag was still on the bridge, untouched and most importantly, dry.

"It's not like I would fit that hoodie of yours anyway" Ezra answered. A soft giggle escaped my mouth, I couldn't help it. Ezra knew how to make me smile even under these circumstances.

"True" I said as I tried to pull my top over my head, but after a minute there was still no achievement.

"Ez?" I just asked, because I had the feeling he knew exactly what I needed.

"Oh honey, I will have this top off of you just as fast as I normally would take it off of you" He said as he took my top in his hands.

"Do I sense a challenge there?" I said with a huge grin on my face.

"Most certainly," He said and with that my top fell on the floor "now, what is my prize?"

"Well, let me think," I said while I grabbed my top from the floor. I looked around for a little, trying to think of something suitable.

"What do you think about this?" I said as I leaned in to kiss him, but just before our lips would meet in a kiss, I squeezed the water out of my top above his head. Ezra's eyes remained closed the whole time. He had the funniest grin on his face. It screamed; _you will pay._ I ran away from him, just in case. I neared the cottage and I hid behind it. Ezra's face was reflected in the glass from the small windows. During my way here, Ezra had opened his eyes. He walked slowly. The leaves creaking under his feet.

"Oh, Ariaaa!" He yelled and my name was heard at least three times more by the echoes. Before I was aware he was behind me, he started tickling me. I started laughing uncontrollably while I fell on the ground. While rolling around and laughing, I hit the front door of the cottage and it burst open. In that exact same second, I was deadly serious again. The laughing stopped immediately. Ezra, who still stood, opened the door a little further. It was too dark to see anything. He reached his hand out to me, so I could stand up. He didn't let go of my hand after that.

"Hello?" Ezra simply said. After a few seconds, everything was still quiet in those woods. Ezra took a step into the cottage and he immediately found the light button. First I wasn't sure what I saw. Pictures, notes, some paper, a table, a bed and two chairs. What did this mean?

"Everything is planned out here" Ezra stated after a few minutes of silence.

"How would you know?" I asked as I looked around myself a little more specifically this time. When nothing caught my eye, I turned to Ezra again.

"Do you see this picture? It's from Grootmoeder's Keuken. This one here was taken in the Philadelphia Museum. All the pictures here have something to do with the kidnapping" He said while he pointed to the different pictures he was referring to. There was a picture of everything. It seemed like some sort of timeline.

"So it starts here and then it ends right here" I said as I let him see what I meant.

"We are one step ahead now, if we just follow those notes and pictures, we will know what will happen next" Ezra said with a smile. We took a step closer to the walls, so we could have a better look. Ezra pointed to the train, the cab and the bridge. Then his finger pointed to the place where should have been a new picture or a new note, except, it wasn't there. But there was a big round circle instead.

"What is this supposed to mean?" I asked him, even though I knew he couldn't answer my question.

"I have no idea, Aria" He said as he exhaled deeply. For today there were two different paths pinned on the walls, the road Ezra and I would follow and the other one was supposed to be for Spencer and Toby. Melissa's house, strangely Jason's shed followed by his house. It clicked in my head again, Jason was the kidnapper. He would lead them to him. Jason would do something horrible to them, something that would hurt them to the extreme level. After this picture was another round circle. The circles are probably synonyms for one big of an event.

"Something big is going to happen, isn't there?" I asked Ezra, taking his hand in mine, afraid of the answer that would escape his mouth.

"Yeah, there will be. First, rest a little" He said as he took me in his arms. His arms felt protectively around me, they fell around me like it was the only skin they had ever touched. Comforting, loving, caring but yet again most importantly, protecting. He kissed my forehead lovingly and he took a seat on one of the chairs. I pulled in his lap quickly, like the floor was on fire. After a little while I closed my eyes. Too scared to see what would happen next.

"Aria?" Ezra asked what seemed like ten minutes later.

"Yeah?" I answered. My eyes were still shut, but my body got even closer to him.

"Did you just hear something at the door?" He asked confused.

"I didn't hear anything besides your heartbeat and your breathing. Why?" I said.

"Never mind. I just thought I heard something" He said as he squeezed one of my hands in reassurance. It didn't feel reassuring though. Why were we sitting here when the whole plan was just in front of us? Were we too scared to figure out yet what would happen next? I know I was. But on the other side, wouldn't it be better if we knew ahead what was coming? So we could figure something out to stop Jason from doing it? I needed to stop Spencer from going into Jason's house, like, immediately! My eyes snapped open again and I grabbed my purse as fast as I could. I dialed Spencer's familiar phone number, but it immediately told me I didn't have any service here. This situation just got from bad to worse. If something really bad would happen to us here, I couldn't even contact someone?

"We don't have any service here" I stated as I stared straight ahead of me. This information had to sink into Ezra for a little while, because he didn't answer me. Normally, he would have some response back right away.

"Aria, do you smell that?" He asked instead. I didn't smell anything before Ezra asked it, but now I was more specifically smelling something, I did indeed smell something.

"Is that.. smoke?" I asked as I jumped off of Ezra's lap to look out of the window. But I couldn't see anything anymore, the view in front of me was blocked with flames.


End file.
